Principles
by Dak
Summary: AU. Sakura-centric. Haruno Sakura is a lost cause. Being a self-proclaimed fangirl and a physically unimpressive kuniochi, Team 7 would be better off without her. What if she actually acknowledges this pre time-skip? How would the fate of Konoha deviate?
1. Chapter 1

**-Rant Mode-**This will be the last time I post about this. My story is NOT NaruSaku. I am sick of people PM'ing and reviewing me telling me it is in the wrong place. This is a NaruSaku friendship fic. There are tons of people who use the catergory filter for friendship fics, and the ones with relationship-pairing directly write NaruSaku in their summaries. When I have a definite pairing in my story with Sakura, if I ever put one in here, I might change it to that character's catergory. Until then, I am not changing it.

The fact that someone said I was, to quote, "uncivilized" and " 'slapping' the face of narusaku fans/readers in such bad regards" is completely and utterly ridiculous. Anyone who fails to see the friendship pairing should not be reading this, to be honest. The people who are trying to criticize me fail to realize a few things.

One, you do not speak for the majority of people. The fact that you think I am undermining a pairing is as I previously stated, ridiculous. I'm sorry that I'm not throwing you a generic pairing which you think fits my plot, but you will have to get over it. I in no way am trying to insult NaruSaku readers, as I read that pairing as well, but this story just doesn't happen to have that element in it.

Second, accusing me of fishing for reviews/hits is not a well thought out argument at all. Why would I want pissed off people sending me reviews about this not being their favorite pairing? How would that accomplish anything at all, or help me become better as a writer? It wouldn't.

And third, this is my story. As petulant as this point may be, I am the one writing this story, and will catergorize it as I please. I am the one who sits down for hours to push out new chapters for this fic. You can do whatever you want with your stories, and I will do what I want with my own. It is that simple.

The fact of the matter is, if you don't want to read this when you realize it is not NaruSaku as a romantic pairing, that is your choice. This is, for the last time, a NaruSaku friendship fic. I have said this from the beginning. If you have any problem with that, please keep it to yourself. I am past the point of disputing the way I post my stories. Any other criticism or compliment is welcome with open arms. **/rant.**

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Now my dear reader, if you are still with me, Welcome to Chapter Uno of Principles. I really shouldn't be starting up another fic, but the Naruto plot rhinos have threatened to impale me if I did not take action.

This fic will be written in first-person. Spoilers on like... episode 18? If you haven't read/watched that far well... you wouldn't understand this anyway. If laziness does not get the best of me, I suspect this could turn into an epic length story. Reviews, comments, thoughts, ideas are all welcome :] .

This is an AU. It is in the Naruto-verse, but there will be some minor changes, which will in turn make much more major twists and turns. **It is also on my own time-line, since I don't feel like researching when everything is happening and I don't think the writer of the show gives you a good sense of time. So I made my own.** I also made the characters a bit more adult-like. Not to the point of OOC, but come on. **These are killers, they are allowed to swear, I promise. They're also teenagers, so there will be some of that teenage-confusion mixed in.** But yes... This is your warning now. If you flame me on this I will ignore you.

I have no idea why I made this Sakura based, I don't really like her till post time-skip, and even then its a grudging respect.

I do not have a definite pairing so far. **It will NOT be SasuSaku or NaruSaku. The pairings of this story may include het/yuri/yaoi pairings.** I am not promising anything, but if you are close-minded, do not bother reading this. I'm putting up a single disclaimer for all chapters.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

**Summary: **AU. Sakura-centric. Haruno Sakura is a lost cause. Being a self-proclaimed fangirl and a physically unimpressive kuniochi, Team 7 would be better off without her. What if she actually acknowledges this pre time-skip? How would the fate of Konoha deviate with a single realization? Begins pre-chuunin exams.

**Rated**: T for language, gore, and all that other fun stuff that comes with being a ninja.

**Principles**

Chapter One

I wonder if the first shinobi to write these standards stained the canvas with his own blood.

Did his fingers shake at all with hesitation when the sharpened steel cleanly sliced open the tools for his writing? Was duty or honor racing through his trusted head as he carved the fate of his future generations? His face, was it one of importance or a hidden mastermind who has gone unrecognized for his cursed blessings? Did regret, remorse, anything at all mar the features of his weathered face? Would that be the biggest hypocritical gesture of them all: The legacy of fulfillment unsatisfied by the prophet himself?

I can't help but picture the scene with an utterly morbid twist.

Over one hundred principles, laws set not in stone, but blood and sweat, war and famine, justice and supreme council.

They are the pillars of a hidden village, of my Konohagakure.

I took pride in memorizing them all, every single principle governing our code of conduct as shinobi. It filled me with a complacent pride, to throw out an answer with the most assured confidence in my voice. The envious stares were worth it, worth the early morning cricks embedded into my neck as I awoke over an open textbook or detailed scroll.

_Principle _- a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived; an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct; a rule or law exemplified in natural phenomena, the construction or operation of a machine, the working of a system, or a guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct.

I was smart, perhaps the smartest with exception to a certain lazy genius or Uchiha prodigy. And I knew it.

That's what left me so stupid.

My bandaged hands shake, stuttering on the air they glide through. I cannot control it.

No one was ever there to knock me down a peg. My academy instructors praised and encouraged my boastful expressions of knowledge. My sensei looked to me when asking his questions, when either of my teammates proved to be stumped or uncaring.

_Teammates._

The shaking intensifies, but their is nothing I can do to stop it. My inner self mocks the situation cruelly. One of the best chakra control experts of her year can't even still her shaking hands, conductors of her pitiful emotions. The expressionless killer can't stop seizing long enough to get control of herself.

Pathetic.

I am one of the Rookie 9, one of the Konoha 12. I don't deserve to be classified with the other ninjas surrounding me. Team 7, one of the most misfit teams ever to come out of a Hidden Village, is the one I reside on. It originally consisted of a brooding avenger, a squealing fan girl, and an over-energized, hyperactive dobe. Jonin sensei, Hatake Kakashi, the famous copy-cat ninja commanded the squad. He is said to have memorized over a thousand jutsus with his Sharingan, a superior dojutsu, given to him by his dying teammate, an Uchiha, and has his own rightful place in enemy villages' bingo books.

This was decades before the Uchiha massacre, committed by one Uchiha Itachi, an elite ANBU by the just thirteen years of age. The lone survivor, besides Itachi himself, was the mentioned brooding avenger of Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke. He vows revenge on the man who destroyed his life and childhood.

Adding myself in to the equation, I can't help but smile at our odd team. With Naruto and Sasuke's constant bickering and insult throwing, Kakashi's lack of teaching and my own habits, it is a surprise we work so well together.

Memories of our first real mission linger in my mind. I can recall Kakashi-sensei, grinning with his upturned eye at my tree climbing progress. I excelled past both of them, you know.

This thought causes my jaw to clench, eyes burning with stilled tears which I refuse to let drop.

It was in that same ego-filled week that I came to my first major realizations as a kunoichi.

We had been assigned to protect a bridge builder of the Wave Country, after much groaning and shouting from Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the most feared bijuu to ever walk this planet. The nine-tailed fox demon was trapped in my comrade's stomach, not that I actually found this out during my first C-ranked mission. I guess the nostalga disrupts even the keenest mind's time flow, mixing and matching the insightful memories to easily piece together the past. We embarked on our mission, expecting bandits, thugs or even a few wandering samurais.

Two hidden chuunin, the Demon Brothers as the bingo book had called them, attacked our four-man squad on the way to Tazuna's project. I thought I had handled myself with proper shinobi reflexes and actions, and my pride sweltered with a job well done. I saw myself as a proper kunoichi, armed and dangerous and ready to take on the world, one nuke-nin at a time. I was a damn fool.

After a foolishly brave proclamation from Naruto, who I was still looking down upon at the time, we continued on. The poisonous wound on his hand was healing up rather quickly, and we had decided to protect the old alcoholic regardless of his lies. With Kakashi-sensei, a jounin, and former ANBU black-ops captain (not that we knew this at the time), and three formally trained genin, we had considered the risks as reasonable and continued to perform our hired services. We could take any other weak ninjas thrown at us.

What we did not expect, however, was Momochi Zabuza, S-ranked missing nin, ex-member of Kirigakure's famous (or infamous, depending on the person of course) Seven Swordsman of the Mist, self proclaimed master of the silent assassination.

Hidden in the canopies of the forested area, with his chakra hidden well enough to escape notice, was the fake hunter-nin, Haku, personal assistant of Zabuza. Sensei, Naruto and Sasuke managed to outsmart and almost defeat the famous giant sword user, had it not been for Haku's interference and rescue. With Kakashi-sensei's overuse of his implanted kekkai genkai, we retreated to Tazuna's, said bridge builder's, house in the poverty stricken land of the Wave. It was in Tazuna's humble house that I got my first glimpse of the real Uzumaki Naruto.

Inari, Tazuna's grandson, had angrily battered us with utter discouragement and hate. It was sad to see such hopelessness in such a young boy. Naruto exploded on him, making the poor young boy cry and run away, before he himself exited the house. So, the number one hyperactive ninja of the leaf wasn't all rainbows and sunshine, was he?

After my ego-expanding tree climbing incident to follow and other battle preperations, the week between our first showdown was up. Zabuza had efficient time to heal, and Kakashi-sensei was at ninety to full percent. Naruto had overslept, going on one of his insane training binges since his fight with Inari. It was then my appreciation for Naruto grew in the slightest too, seeing his determination and strength.

The tears cut past my cheekbones, stinging the shallow cuts on my chin. I deserve the pain, and so much more.

In my horribly naive mind, Sasuke was a king, and Naruto a jester. I dismissed his true value and was a disgusting excuse of a teammate to him. He never deserved what I constantly gave him, yet he never complained. He had no living relatives, an orphaned boy from birth, and the villagers made constant attempts on his life. He never once fought back.

The tears flood my reason. I cannot continue this train of thought, or it will devour me whole. The despair of my previous actions will help no one in the slightest. I must move on in my memories or be trapped here.

So the final battle commenced. Sensei fought the notorious Zabuza, while Sasuke, and eventually Naruto, engaged Haku. I was to stand guard, uselessly, over Tazuna.

The mist thickened, no doubt a jutsu from Momochi's extensive water-typed collection. I could see nothing, so instinctively closed my eyes, trying to feel about with my other senses. It was probably the most sensible thing I did that day.

After large bursts of red, tainted chakra, which I now can identify to be Kyuubi's, the mist rolled away and I was caught in confusion. Kakashi-sensei had the upper hand on Zabuza, and Naruto was walking towards me relatively unscathed. I called out to him, inquiring about Sasuke. The lack of response was answer enough, accompanied by a guilty look I did nothing to erase. Tazuna looked at me with a softness in his eyes, offering to run over to Sasuke so I would not have to choose between my heart and my duty as a hired shinobi. I cannot help but cringe at the memory. I was disgusting.

I saw him... Sasuke. He was laying down, immobile with senbon sticking out of his body like a protective porcupine layer. I remember the sobs that tore at my throat, begging to be unfurled. My eyes narrowed and my posture stiffened. Shinobi Principle number twenty-five.

Sasuke was fine in the end. Haku was not a cold-blooded killer, as we all had thought, except for Naruto apparently. Naruto was always full of surprises and complexity - truly Konoha's number one hyperactive ninja. But his hyperactivity was overshadowed by his more honest title: Konohagakure's number one unpredictable shinobi. He was always full of more then anyone knew, even us, the members of his own team.

Haku sacrificed himself for his master, taking a Chidori from Sensei through the chest. He died with a smile on his face, useful to his precious person even in death. Zabuza made some reference to his "tool", and Naruto's anger sparked his philosophies once again. Looking back, even then, Naruto was much more wise then anyone every gave him credit. He may not have had a proper education, due to his lack of reliable teachers, but he had experienced more then some people, seasoned shinobi or civilians, would ever in their lifetime. The Hidden Mist Assasin admitted, with leaking eyes, of Naruto's truth, and eventually cut down the man who had been responsible for the horrific battle with a single kunai in his barred teeth. Kakashi may had destroyed the use of his arms, but Zabuza died an honorable death that day, being buried next to his younger life companion in a final act of peace and humanity.

It was during this fateful C- turned A-ranked mission that my life value became less one-dimensional.

It had just taken me months after to truly realize this. Naruto and Sasuke took bounds and leaps of progress, new muscles and techniques to show for it.

What did I have to show? Long, cascading pink locks of useless hair?

Book smarts and fancy explanations for definitions meant nothing in the ninja world. All I had prided myself on was uselessness, causing an inflated ego that could have gotten me killed in my insolence. Naruto and Sasuke were both out of my league in tai- and nin-jutsu, two of the most important areas which would keep me alive. I could only survive so long on what I knew and what I had become. I was an Uchiha Sasuke fangirl know-it-all, plain and simple. My chakra control might have been decent, but my total chakra pool was undeniably pathetic. My taijutsu was weak and flawed; my ninjutsu was neglected and my physical condition was laughable at best. There was no way I could keep up with the greatness that shinned in Naruto's cerulean pools of determination or Sasuke's cold, calculating prodigial state of mind.

I was Haruno Sakura, highest scorer on the genin entrance shinobi knowledge tests. I was Haruno Sakura, self-proclaimed number one Uchiha fan girl and admirer. I was Haruno Sakura, the girl with no established clan background who was destined to average mediocrity. I was Haruno Sakura, young genin who lacked any definitive nindo because of the stupidity and naivety shadowing her mind.

The tears have finally stopped. I am grateful no one was here to check up on me, nurse or concerned genin alike. I mutter through numbed lips, palms wiping the slate of my face clean and pushing long, pink tresses behind my ears.

The Shinobi Principles of Conduct. I have memorized, forever, all of them. There are over a hundred, you know.

Principle number twenty-five:

A shinobi never shows his feelings, no matter what the circumstance. Feelings are a weakness, and only cloud his judgement and weaken his sense of duty.

...

Bullshit.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to all who reviewed or added this story to your favorites/alerts :]

This story is classified with Sakura as the main character and Naruto as the minor. Naruto will be a big part of the story, but there will not be any romance between the two. I apologize if anyone took it to be NaruSaku with the classification, but I am leaving it as such. There are tons of other fics categorized with two characters without having any romantic connection between the two, and I made it clear from the start that this wasn't NaruSaku. Now, on with the story!

**Principles**

**--**

Chapter Two

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The sun had still not escaped his slumbered prison when my eyelids snapped awake. I blinked twice in rapid succession, stretching into the warmth I had created on my makeshift bed. Sleep had been sparse in the cricketing hours of twilight, my mind not allowing more then a couple minutes rest before firing back up again. There was just too many ideas to wrap my head around.

The acceptance blew in with the dampening of the night's call. The dead of night strengthened my resolve. It was time for Haruno Sakura to be improved and re-established.

It has been exactly two weeks, five days since the mission to Wave with Tazuna-san. I wish I could say that I have been so exhausted from my training regime that my past-due conversation with Naruto has been postponed, but that is not the case. I'm still a coward.

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Five Days Prior

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"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan wait up!"

Team 7 had just completed another half-assed training session. Our trio was up and armed at six in the morning, waiting with a childish anxiety for our sensei to arrive. Sasuke took his normal scowling position under a vacant tree, slumping with Uchiha dignity. I tried to swooned over him, shaking my head mentally at my own lack of enthusiasm. It must have been too many days away from Ino-pig, I justified to myself. That must be the reason for my lack of fighting pride.

Naruto was pacing back and forth on the bridge, face set in a petulant scowl. The whiskered boy never had patience, his brashness in battle a prime example. I distractedly hoped it wouldn't get him killed one day.

Kakashi-sensei strolled up to the bridge mid-morning, hands tucked carefully into his pocket. He seemed to be frowning under his mask as he came within the proximity of one of Naruto and Sasuke's daily arguments. Realizing his approach, Naruto turned to face the jonin, eyes alight with anger. A single finger shot towards the copy-nin's chest accusingly.

"You're late!"

"Ah, well you see, I got lost on the road to life."

It was a pathetic attempt for an excuse, sending Naruto ranting at the time we had lost. I normally joined my teammate in these particular ravings, but my mind had been preoccupied that day. I had been uncharacteristically distracted since our upgraded mission, a fact Kakashi pointed out at the beginning of the training session. I merely blinked at him before staring up at a focal point above his left shoulder.

"Enough Naruto. There is no point in wasting any training time."

"Hn. Dobe."

The hyperactive ninja turned on Sasuke, growling deep in his throat with an animalistic ferocity. I took an unconscious step back.

"Today we are working on our basic ninja skills, an area we have been neglecting lately."

Sasuke, Naruto and I gawked at our sensei, who for a rare moment, addressed our trio with a focused determination.

"Kakashi-sensei..." I hesitate. Sensei's eye lights up with question. Haruno Sakura has never questioned authority or instruction. She always does what is told.

"Yes Sakura?"

He sends Naruto and Sasuke away to warm-up. The reasoning is two-fold: Get the boys' muscles stretched out, and let them work off some of the testosterone building between the two. I take in a particularly large gulp of air.

"I am weak sensei." He makes no effort to lessen the truth with false reassurance. I am grateful.

"I need to catch up, and become a real ninja. My way will get me killed."

He is silent as he contemplates what I have said. My mouth moves without my logic's consent.

"We all saw how useless I was with Tazuna-san's mission. I am a liability to the team at the moment and-"

"Alright Sakura. Let's see if you are truly ready."

He calls my partners back over, announcing our traditional start-up for exercise.

This is the beginning, and how I stumbled across Naruto's biggest fear, and secret.

The exercise was simple enough. We split up, Kakashi and Sasuke, Naruto and I, and began sparring. Sasuke had unlocked his Sharingan nearly two weeks ago, and was eager to learn more about his Uchiha kekkai genkai. I couldn't blame him for that.

That left Naruto and myself to work in an abandoned training field. Sensei gave us directions to a private place to practice, assuring us that we had proper clearance and necessities for our pseudo-mission. Small talk was kept to a Naruto minimum, mostly exclamations of excitement or encouragement from my blonde teammate. I smiled gently at his ramblings; Naruto's personality was dangerously contagious. It was just another part of his genuine personality that drew people to him. I couldn't understand why the villagers pierced him with such hateful and despising looks. Naruto was a known prankster, but surely he has never done something so despicable to deserve that much hatred.

As we wandered further through the tree tops, Naruto's voice cut off abruptly. We had reach the training ground, and what a training ground it was.

A rusted sign, crooked on its hinges gave the looming area a fitting name: The Forest of Death. A thick blanket of danger coated the edges of the forest. It was impossible to see more then ten or twenty yards into the grounds from any point on its perimeter. Hisses and growls from lurking predators whispered through the wind, a despairing omen and warning to turn back. Naruto eyed the forest with a cutting glare, before turning to me and shrugging noncommittally. He gave his trademark grin, the one that threatened to split his face in two it was so wide, and shouted out a few words of foolish courage. I once again couldn't help but smile. Naruto wasn't as bad as I thought he was, although his hyperactivity was taxing at times.

As my bumbling teammate was prepared to rush in, I grabbed him by the collar of his orange and blue jumpsuit.

"Naruto-kun, how about we take inventory before charging in there, ne?"

A sheepish grin was my only response as Naruto emptied his pockets and kunai holsters. He had two positioned at either side of his waist.

Between the two of us a decently large pile of weapons lay at our feet: nearly two dozen kunai, ten shuriken, three exploding tags, a coil of ninja wire, two smoke bombs and a handful of senbon needles.

We split the throwing knives up evenly. Naruto pocketed the smoke bombs and exploding tags; I stowed away the ninja trip wire and senbon needles.

"Alright Naruto-kun. Kakashi-sensei didn't leave any real instruction. We are to remain in the forest for an undetermined amount of time. There is a camp set up two miles into the is cooperative intense survival training. Have... fun?"

I can practically picture the bastard with his eye-smile as he scrawled the note out. Naruto shakes his head in silent agreement. We double check our gear, leaving it in the place for optimal speed and usage. I wonder briefly why Naruto has chosen waist holsters. A newer model of thigh straps have been proven more effective and were worth roughly the same. I brush off the speculation, jumping up at the same time as my comrade and into the nefarious looking thickets. The sense of foreboding weights on my mind, but is eased with the jaw-breaking smile Naruto sends me.

We disappear from sight and into the eerie jungle. Naruto and I decided to make our way to the camp first, and plan our next moves with a better grasp of the surroundings. There must have been some reason for Kakashi-sensei to mention it; our jonin sensei never wasted his words.

Faint echos strained to reach my ear as the thick muscles in our legs propelled us from tree branch to tree branch. Our pace kept steady for the entire journey. I felt my stamina waning at the faster-then-civilian pace. I glanced over at my teammate as we reached the abandoned campsite. Naruto looked as if he had just taken a stroll down the block, aloof without a drop of sweat staining his brow. I muttered darkly under my breath.

The blonde scanned the empty pots and pans, inspecting the tent materials for any traps set out. It was better to be safe then sorry. Shinobis had to be precise and thorough- lives depended on it.

"Sakura-chan, it seems to be safe. I think Sensei left this encrypted message as further direction? How about you decode it while I go grab some firewood?"

My comrade was sprinting away from the camp halfway through his speech. I chuckled at his actions. Everyone knew Naruto couldn't stand the unnecessary paperwork or puzzle. He was a hands-on guy, through and through. I got to work decoding the note. It was a basic scrabble taught to us in the academy. Iruka-sensei had said that it was a necessity for the First Great War, with couriers behind enemy lines with only messenger hawks to pass back vital messages. Enemies could intercept the packages, and had in the past, so the codes were developed to keep Konoha 's secrets safe.

I had the original instructors in just under five minutes. Naruto walked back into the campsite, a decent sized pile of logs and branches in his arms. It was enough fodder to last us through the night.

"Did you finish Sakura-chan?"

I wordlessly held the note up in my hand for him to take. His childishly wide blue orbs read through the paper twice before his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. His glance landed on my sitting form.

"What does this-"

A loud snarling broke through the clearing, Naruto's sentence long forgotten.

A giant centipede with dripping, venomous forcipules hissed at the gap between us. His mouth was open and clenching. Unlike the normal, palm-sized arthropods, this mutated red-brown beast had sturdy legs and stood nearly a foot taller then Naruto. Unable to stand still, the long, stringy body swayed back and forth in a provocatively predatory dance. I shivered at the unnatural creature.

Naruto drew a handful of kunai from his pouch, wrist tense with pressure. His eyes cut over to me, and I drew a pair as well. Before they could charge forward and cut the beast down, a gurgled growl escaped the thing's mouth and lurking shadows traced the open plain.

A pack of the centipedes circled around the two genin menacingly. I surveyed at least ten wriggling forms in the sphere around her. A feral snarl ripped from Naruto's throat.

"Well, if that's how you want to do it. Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Making the familiar hand signs, eight exact replicates appeared, kunai in hand.

The Naruto copies sprinted forward in an orange flash, engaging their new enemies at the call of an unspoken signal. Ripples of pain screeched through the dampened airas the shadow clones ripped the giant invertebrates apart, punches and kunai causing irreparable damage. I stared at the new foe with apprehension. The apparent leader of the clan, designated with purple spots on his outer shell. He hissed, mouth open in utter rage at the massacre of his family.

I held my kunai posed, waiting for the creature to charge. Mere seconds later the monster lay bleeding on the jungle floor, a thick purplish liquid secreting from it's body. Hands flew up to my nose unconsciously as I struggled to keep myself from dry heaving; the smell was thick and death clung to the air.

A sharp, jagged pain stabbed through the back of my left shoulder. I turned around with narrowed eyes at the snarling opponent behind me. The centipede had apparently gotten in a lucky swipe, for no shadow clone was in the proximity. I brought my kunai up and across, slashing the beast's soft, jelly-like weak spot below it's guarded head. The syrupy stream of blood-like substance splatters across the bridge of my nose. The mutant died in a pool, choking on it's own plasma.

I looked around, taking in the dispelling of Naruto's shadow clones. He looked over with a tired smile, the stench of corpses not bothering him in the slightest. I tried to smile back as my vision fell into a a pitch black existence.

"-ra-chan! Sakura-chan!"

I moaned in pain, blinking my eyes rapidly to clear the sleep from them. What the hell had happened?

"Thank Kami you're okay Sakura-chan."

My vision was blinded by a pair of innocent, crystal clear blue orbs filled to the brim with worry. I tried to use my voice to comfort my comrade, but a slight croaking sound came out instead of my words. Naruto had a canteen in front of my face before I could move. I gulped the contents hastily, muttering thanks in-between.

"What happened Naruto-kun?"

"Poison," his voice was solemn. It was too unlike Naruto.

"Poison?"

"Hai, I've fe- seen the effects of animal toxins before. I applied basic first-aid to the wound, disinfected the wound and stopped the spread of poison. You should be feeling some drowsiness, but other then that..."

He scratched the back of his head, a nervous gesture of his, and shrugged, leaving the sentence incomplete. I stared hard at him for a moment before reaching out to hug Naruto. He flinched at the initial contact, and almost slipped out in his explanation - things that did not escape my notice.

"Arigato, Naruto-kun."

The worry in his eyes lessened as I stretched, walking the circumscribed camp he had set up while I was in my unconscious state. My shoulder felt fine, with exception to the embedded sting that always complimented a healing wound. A wandering rabbit scurried through the campsite, unique in the fact that no mutations seemed to mark its body. Naruto went to draw a kunai, but I beat him, throwing a senbon needle between the small creature's eyes.

After skinning and gutting the rabbit and any other edible marsupials we could find in the area, I brought the raw meat over to the licking fire Naruto had kindled.

"Naru-kun, can we talk?" I asked, voice seemingly softer then normal. He looked over with a puzzled expression.

"Ummmm, why Sakura-chan?"

I was taken aback by the question.

"What do you mean why?"

"Well," he started off slowly, as if afraid that he would set off my temper, "You never have wanted to talk in the past. You're usually too busy with Sasuke... or other things."

I recoiled at his words and a sliver of fright slipped onto his face. I burned with shame. Naruto never lied, and this I knew to be particulary true.

"Naruto-kun... I'm sorry."

He looked up with confusion at my words. My hands clenched tightly at my side.

"I have been a horrible ninja. I obsessed over Sasuke, neglected my training and most importantly..."

My non-existent nails broke through the skin of my palms. I was always horrible at apologizes. Naruto looked down at me with with understanding in his cerulean orbs.

"I haven't been a good friend to you Naruto. We all see the way the villagers look down at you and glare at you. You don't have to be Shikamaru to see that. You wear outdated equipment, an obnoxious jumpsuit, and shy away from physical contact.

I know I haven't been there for you Naruto-kun. I could understand why you wouldn't want to trust me. But I'm hoping to get the benefit of the doubt and... well just know I'm here for you. You are an important part of Team 7. It wouldn't be the same without you. I acknowledge you as a fine ninja."

I still couldn't look at him. My face flushed with embarrassment at the corny speech I had just given. I babble when I'm nervous.

"Sakura-chan..."

There were tears in his joyous, sparkling eyes. We all knew how much Naruto struggled for the village. He just wanted recognition and acceptance. Shikamaru had set me in my place on day when I had brought Naruto up.

--

_"He's so annoying you know?" I babbled to Ino. She nodded her head in furious agreement_

_"He always asks me out, I don't get it. Why would I want to waste my time with someone as useless as him, When I could have a fine shinoni like Sasuke-kun._

_"Troublesome women," Shikamaru muttered, cutting off whatever compliment Ino was going to give to Sasuke-kun._

_I turned to glare at him, silently asking him to expand._

_"Naruto is a fine ninja," he drawled in his lazy pace, "Annoyingly troublesome at times, but there's something inspiring in him. He wants the acknowledgement."_

_Shikamaru slunk off, letting his shoulders sag as he trudged down the street. Ino and I just stared after him._

--

"Sakura-chan I..."

It was the blonde's turn to look away during our discussion. I put my hand over his in a hopefully comforting gesture. He smiled appreciatively.

"What do you know about October 10th?"

"It's your birthday and... the attack of the Kyuubi."

Naruto thumped to the ground, motioning for us to sit again. A sigh escaped his lips.

"Bijuu, tailed demons, cannot be killed Sakura-chan, at least not by mortals. The Yondaime was a fine shinobi, but even he could not kill one of the feared beasts."

Naruto paused for a moment, letting the information sink in. I could begin to see where this was going.

"So he did the next best thing. He sealed the great Kyuubi no Kitsune in an infant, whose chakra coils hadn't fully developed yet and would not die from the procedure. He sealed the damned fox in me."

I hugged him. I know it wouldn't help or make any amends for my past mistakes, but I needed some way to comfort Naruto. He wouldn't want my pity; he never wanted pity from anyone for any reason. But this had hurt him, deeper then the smiles he glued onto his face.

"So, you see Sakura-chan... I wanted the new kunai holsters, but the shopkeeper wouldn't sell them to me. I even offered to pay triple the price. He almost had me thrown out of the store. I'm not used to much human interaction, besides punches or pushes."

I winced. How many times have I smacked Naruto in the head, frustrated about something? Too many to count. It make me sick to my stomach.

He smiled, this smile had more depth then his normal full-faced one. It was trusting and forgiving. The smile made me feel worse. I did nothing to deserve that trust.

"Don't blame yourself Sakura-chan. You were nicer then most of the people I interact with on a daily basis. I didn't have to have my bright-and-stupid mask up with you. As for the jumpsuit,"

He shrugged, rubbing his hands through his hair.

"Orange is the best color!" He chuckled at my mortified look.

"I loved the brightness as a child. I was too used to the grays of the world and wanted to shine no matter what."

I smiled affectionately at him. That was such a Naruto thing to do.

"Also, It helps when people underestimate you: ninja and villagers alike. I would probably get overcharged if I tried to buy anything else, so I've just kept it."

"Naruto-baka, we are so getting you new clothes when we get back to civilization and away from man-eating bugs."

We shared cheesy grins and an easy sense of camaraderie.

--


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to all my new reviewers/subscribers. A/Ns will usually be on the bottom of chapters, so take a look at the end.

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**Principles**

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Chapter Three

--

--

The fire crackled, embers licking up the fresh wood Naruto had thrown into the pile. Snarls and shrieks of daylight had faded with the deep violets and streaking oranges of the sky. Shining through an opening of the thick canvas of branches overhead, the moon shot through our makeshift campsite, illuminating all that the bright rays could touch. I sat awake, next to Naruto-kun on a log bench. He smiled crookedly at me and left silent for firewood; the stock was currently empty. It was our third night in the Forest of Death.

The first night had been relatively uneventful, compared to our arrival. The second day and night also lacked any action. My nerves were wound up tight. Kakashi-sensei always had something underhanded in any training he gave us. Throughout the months of training with Sensei, we had learned to always keep on our feet, no matter how simple a procedure seemed. Every mission was a complexity.

The note Kakashi-sensei had left confused me further. Neither Naruto nor I could figure out its true meaning, but I figured whatever it was would rear its head soon enough.

I glanced up into the pearly white shadows of the moon. It was a nearly full moon, a slight sliver of the puzzle missing. The moon felt like a symbol of my hopeful rebirth, closing in on the few days of weakness and void of fulfillment I had left in me. There was still a shadow of doubt, still a piece missing I couldn't reach in my current grasp. I sighed at my own inner babbling.

A bare rustling shook my concentration as my eyes darted to the suspicious bush. A senbon needle flew from my clenched fingers and loosening wrist; a resounding squeal marked the direct hit of the sharpened weapon. I sauntered over to corpse, plucking it from the confines of its shelter. Deciding on making dinner while Naruto was out, I hunted briefly for any other edible beasts I could find. I skinned and gutted them, like I had the previous meals, setting the meat beside the fire for when Naruto came back with more fodder.

Speaking of Naruto, it had been over fifteen minutes since he went for firewood. I wondered briefly what was taking him so long until he stumbled back into the clearing, slightly out of breath, with a handful of tree limbs and branches. He smirked up at me and my eyebrows narrowed slightly.

"Naruto-kun, what took you so long?"

"Ne, Sakura, what do you mean?" He scratched the back of his head and my stance relaxed slightly.

"Nothing, Naruto. I found some more animals lurking," I glanced down at the dying fire, gesturing to the fresh meat I had hunted. He nodded and threw some more wood into the flickering flame.

They cooked their meal in relative silence, the background noises of nocturnal predators being the only comfort. They ate in the same semi-awkward silent, my face must have been in deep thought, for Naruto glanced over worriedly at me. I tried to school my features into an expression that didn't seem guilty, like I hadn't been spacing out.

"Hey Sakura, do you want the rest of this?" He motioned to the half-eaten rodent, "I'm pretty full myself."

I grinned up at him. That was the Naruto I knew, always thinking of others before himself.

"No, I'm fine Naruto-kun. Why don't you head off to sleep? You did take watch last night, it's my turn."

"Sure thing Sakura, I'll see you in the morning?"

I nodded slightly, turning back to scan the surroundings with a sudden focus.

"We need to plan for tomorrow. Something big is going to happen soon, I can feel it."

Naruto gave a hard glance at my back before disappearing into the tent. I fell back into my oblivious thoughts.

A muffled screech of a wounded owl hit my ears, and I jolted out of my daze. Tomorrow would be the start of something interesting.

--

A confused expression settled deep into his face. Naruto tried to stretch, finding his arms and legs to be incapacitated by chakra-filled rope I had found when we first reached camp. His groggy curealan eyes stared up at me with an almost innocence. I had to remind myself why I was doing this.

It was early into the morning, the midnight monsters had recently fallen into slumber, and the sun peaked out from above the leafy canopies. The orange-yellow hues flooded, complimenting the dark jungle greens and earthy brown undertones of the camouflaged floor. This was no time to admire the sunset though. I had my own mission to accomplish.

"Sakura... what is going on?" There was slight panic in his voice. I imagined Naruto must have dealt with similar situations growing up. Being tied up would not have brought back good images and I immediately felt a pang of guilty rip through my chest. I shook my head to clear it. If my assumptions were right, I had nothing to feel guilty for.

"Drop the act already." 'Naruto' gulped at my steely tone, and I imagined my seafoam green eyes to be as hardened as my voice.

"But Sakura, what do you mean? I'm Naruto dattebayo!"

A growl built in the back of my throat as I stepped closer to the trapped 'Naruto'. I held a kunai up to his throat, pressing light enough to refrain from drawing blood. The threat was clear.

The faked fear of his expression dropped to be replaced with a cruel smirk.

"How did you figure it out?" The man with Naruto's face on sneered cruely at me, spitting to the side of my shoes as I dodged the glob. I growled at him again.

"Kai!" I called out, dispelling the henge technique the man had used. A non-descriptive man, in his early twenties, glared up at me. He had standard dark eyes, with a black hitai-ate which let chocolately brown, unruly bangs peak out from the front. His attire was a mixture of dark greens and browns, so alike the background that my eyes lost focus when staring at the imposter too hard. His vest seemed to mark him as a chuunin, but any plates where a village marking should be was unmarked.

"You are a sad impersonator. You left way too many holes and obviously didn't study your character hard enough."

"How?" He hissed. I just grinned viciously at his rage.

The kunai dug deeper, kissing the surface of his jugular. I was not about to give him what he wanted: time to stall. The ninja below me tried his hardest to keep his face as though made of steel, but I could feel the rapid beating of his heart. He was afraid.

"Listen here scum. If you want to survive with your throat unsliced, you will tell me where Naruto-kun is."

My voice was cold and calculating, leaving what I thought was no room for denial. I meant business, and tried to keep my hands from shaking. They were still clean from metaphoric blood. I had never taken a life, and was prepared to mark my first kill today, if necessary. I needed to find Naruto. Any inkling of shaking stopped as my determination set. Inner-Sakura approved with a snarl.

"Th-There is a tower in the center of the Forest, approximately 10km from any of the forty-four gates you entered from. The river running through training ground #44 will take you to the tower if your inept skills get you lost. Your pathetic _Naruto-kun_ is being held captive there. You will die when you foolishly run to save him."

His voice took on a sugary sweet tone at my comrade's name and my gaze on him intensified. He opened his mouth to spit on my shoes again, but met the blunt end of my kunai before the fluid could leave his mouth. He was knocked out cold. I did not have the ice in my veins to kill cold-blooded. My first kill would not be so cowardly.

I considered reviving him to see if I could squeeze more information out of him, but decided against it. It would be a waste of time to try to question and torture the disdainful chuunin any longer. I had gotten all he was going to give me, however sparse the intel was. It was time to scout.

--

The tree I was crouched on had an uncountable number of perches to look from. The designated tower looked like a child's stack toy, six cylinders stacked onto one another, largest on the bottom and smallest on the top. The tower itself was four stories tall, with a definite circular shape. The panels that made up the tower seemed to be dyed a rich mahogany, faded only by the nature around it. The roof, curved into a taupe dome-like covering, seemed to be strong and sturdy without any noticeable holes. No windows seemed to be present, although narrow slots were carved into a set interval around the looming tower. I guessed that these were the eye slots, as windows would be too revealing.

My mind was moving at rapid-pace, searching through the long, useless hours of textbook studying which had led up to this point. I could try to cut or explode my way through the roof, or perhaps the side of a building. I shook my head at the Naruto-esque idea. I was a trained kunoichi. Stealth and planned, swift movements were meant to be my tools, not some brash, barbaric destruction of property while I manhandled anyone who got in my way. In reality I was much too weak for that plan, and Naruto-kun had commandeered the explosive tags anyway.

I hopped forward, the thinning of trees announcing the arrival of the lone tower. I stopped slowly, trying to gather my wits. What did I know about the tower?

The cherrywood tower was surrounded by foliage and a river. Naruto was somewhere inside the building. There were an unknown amount of hostile ninja guarding him. I took inventory of my supplies. Nearly two dozen senbon needles, eight kunai, and five shuriken were left in my pouch. Next to the weapons was a medium sized coil of ninja wire, sharp and deadly. My eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Was I strong enough to rescue Naruto-kun? I tried to calculate the time it would take to reach Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke. Would it be too late if I waited that long to try to save my teammate? Should I admit defeat in the face of staggering odds? The prideful and analytical sides of my mind were arguing: Outer-Sakura versus Inner-Sakura. Frustration weighted deep on my mind as thick tears leaked down my cheeks. I thought of Naruto.

Naruto's smiling and confident face, whisker marks stretched across his chin. Bright, innocent blue pools for eyes with sunshine yellow hair against his tanned face. He was so unlike Sasuke and even my own complexion of pale, pasty skin. The most hyperactive ninja of Konohagakure was a bundle of energy, the embodiment of a ball of sunshine. Could I hold it on my conscience to abandon him?

Even if I did reach Sensei and Sasuke-kun in time, what would the reaction be? Would Kakashi-sensei tell me I wasn't strong enough to be a real ninja? Would there be disappointment in Sasuke's onyx eyes? What would be running through their heads? Would I continue to be an unworthy member of Team 7, ignored by the famous Sharingan no Kakashi and overshadowed by two rising shinobi destined for greatness?

_In the world of the ninja those who violate the rules and laws are called trash, this is true. However... those who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash._

The moral flashed through my head, and I could practically hear the passion in Kakashi-sensei's voice and the comforting upside-down "U" shape of his eye. This had to be done. It was time for the moon to be full and complete. My shoulders were set firm, steady and firm to match my new sense of purpose.

I drew a handful of senbon needles, using my small size and relative speed to approach the entrance to the tower. Keeping to the shadows, I saw the two guards stationed outside the door. This could be completed two different ways.

I moved off to the side, deep within the shadow of a thick, lofty tree. I quickly strung out the wire, careful to keep it from slicing my hands open. Setting my trap in place, I retreated to my planned spot for cover roughly 10m away.

I hesitated slightly, taking in the watchmens' lax stances. It seemed like the enemy wasn't expecting me, a necessity in any basic ambush. Drawing a single shuriken, I threw it with precise aim at the first guard. It hit him in the throat and he dropped to the ground, clutching the gurgling wound. His waterlogged screams filled the air as his companion took off in the direction of the thrown ninja star. Seeing the length of tripwire glinting in the sun, the shinobi dodged into the shadows.

His feet triggered another hidden length of wire, which set a volley of kunai in the enemy's direction. The cocky ninja sidestepped once again, launching himself in the air as he let the kunai fly useless past him - or so he thought. As his cold eyes glared hatefully at my now exposed position the handful of stars sliced through the first length of wire, glistening in the sun as a resounding snap echoed through the small clearing. The village-less man's eyes widened in shock as a new flurry of kunai shot from the trees to impale his uncovered body. I walked up to him quickly, dragging the struggling body further into the shadows as I slit his throat with spasming hands.

I silently walked to the other body, dragging it too into underbrush hidden beneath the trees' covering. My hands shook uncontrollably once more. Two men, from an unknown location, were dead. Dead by my own quivering hands. Sure, I had been trained for years for this business, for this moment. Haruno Sakura was officially a licensed murderer, a proud protector of Konohagakure. The seizures of my hands lessened slightly as I pictured Team 7 in my head.

No, I was not a murderer, but I was an assassin. I am a commissioned weapon-for-hire. I will continue to kill to protect my village and the people in it I love. This is my path. The shaking rumbles down to a minimum as I wash my hands clean with the dew of uncut grass. I also wipe down the kunai, trying to preserve all the weapons I had against unknown foes. There was no reason to waste any finely made steel.

Steeling my nerves, I rushed forward in a ninja-paced sprint and into the first floor of the tower. The crimson colored doors swayed lightly, as if by a breeze, as I entered the foreboding building.

It seemed to be an empty room, with a giant, white board up on the walls. I slipped again the wall, trying to use any cover possible before scanning the rest of my surroundings. A guard was pacing on the overhanging balconies on either side of the room. He seemed oblivious to the turmoil of his companions outside, walking the hallway with an easy assurance and sloppy stance. Walking up behind him, I jabbed two senbon needles into pressure points on his neck. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, and would remain unconscious for hours after I left the tower.

The hallway skirted out to a large training room. A balcony for survellience stretched around nearly the entire circumference of the large area. The entire room was eerily empty.

Cutting across the spacious room, I glided up the stairs in front of me, nearing a smaller, administrative-like office. I bypassed this room, feeling no chakra signature on this floor, and catiously moved to the third floor.

Naruto was bound and gagged on the sooty floor. The rope looked thin, but was no doubt chakra enforced. A trickle of dried blood was crusted on his wrists and forearms, most likely a violent attempt to initially break free. The wounds seemed to be healed, but his wrists were still red and raw. The jacket of his orange jumpsuit was off and carelessly thrown on a decaying desk. A large slash cut across Naruto's collarbones, swollen and angry. Numerous other cuts were seen through the gaping holes of his black undershirt. Orange pants were stained the colors of dried mud and half-closed wounds. The gag pulled at the corners of his mouth, twisting his bright, whiskered face into a permanent frown. I growled at his condition. This wasn't some training exercise.

Two shinobi, also with blank hitai-ate, stood in front of the downed blonde, smirks on their faces as they took in my appearance. I kept my calm. Let them underestimate me, it would just be another advantage to my situation.

"Look at what we have here Kenshu. Looks like the little girl lost her doll. Need something to play with honey?" A thick voice questioned slowly. The man had bleached white hair and deep, black eyes. He wore a similar flak jacket to the first man she had encountered. He held two modified kunai, about three inches longer then the average knife. He was covered head-to-toe in black, just like "Kenshu"

"You can play with me all you want girl." Kenshu sneered at her, licking his lips crudely. He, like his partner, was in the midnight assemblage. He happened to be around fifty pounds heavier, but still stood at his comrade's height of 5'10''. Kenshu had a short katana cradled in his arms, a golden dragon emerging from the hilt at his side. When he drew it, the three foot blade also seemed well crafted. I wondered briefly who he stole it from.

My body felt rigidly still. I could feel Inner-Sakura struggling to break free of the constant restraints I kept on her. My control was slipping. I took a second to glance over at my trapped friend.

Naruto looked up at me with serious eyes. His message was clear: _run Sakura-chan._

I shook my head slightly at him, feeling Inner-Sakura agree with me for once. As my dominant personality nodded as well, I felt her meld and shift into my own consciousness. I did nothing to stop it. This was not my inner taking control, it was something else, and I welcomed the rush of power coursing through my veins.

Kenshu rushed at me as I drew the kunai I had slaughtered with earlier. The stance the overweight man used seemed particularly basic, and I had no problem matching his pattern with my blade. After a half-dozen swings our blades caught, and the pressure of his muscles making my arms quiver with strain. I doubled my effort, using two hands to steady the locked metal. Kenshu pushed his advantage as I saw the white-haired man making a one-handed hand sign. This was not good.

I rolled with the force, drawing a handful of shuriken with my now free hand. I flicked two of the stars at the distanced man, throwing the other two point-blank at Kenshu's gut. He moaned in pain, the pressure on my kunai gone as the large man dropped to the floor.

The last man standing between Naruto and I charged forward at a breakneck speed. I barely moved my kunai up quick enough to block the forceful blow. He snarled loudly as he attacked again, faster if that was even possible. I felt a pull in the back of my mind but ignored it, willing my focus to remain entirely on this fight. Naruto needed me right now. After two more clanks of metal-on-metal I felt even weaker then before. I shook my head mentally and ignored the pull again.

In an act of self-preservation I launched a backwards slash at him, forcing much needed distance between our blades. His counter-attack was swift and accurate, slashing open a moderate wound on my upper thigh. I grit my teeth as my legs gave out from under me, vision swimming. My vision of off-white tiles was replaced with a scorning face.

"You are a pathetic excuse for a kunoichi, girl. I will tell you something you haven't even realized during our tedious fight," His voice rambled in that annoyingly slow drawl,

"My blade is a unique one. While larger and heavier then the average kunai, it has the ability to absorb chakra through anything. I have been slowly draining your life source right out from your ignorant eyes. Pathetic."

The blaze of anger hidden inside multiplied rapidly inside of me. Yes, this was disturbingly similar to the words I had uttered to myself. But this was different. This arrogant shinobi, who knew nothing about me, was judging me without hesitation. The Haruno Sakura that he was describing was one of the past. She no longer existed. What else did she need to do to prove this?

The Inner-Sakura which had oddly disappeared roared inside me. I growled externally. There was no Inner-Sakura. There was just Haruno Sakura, kunoichi of Konohagakure, member of one of the greatest genin team to be born. I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the pain in my leg. Chakra flooded through my being as my hands rapidly signed. I whispered the name of the jutsu under my breathe and rushed towards my enemy.

His motions seemed slower, much more obvious as I parried the blows. Slash upwards, off-balance kick, backhanded slash, right hook. My rage took on a concentrated form as I channeled chakra into my knuckles, slamming it across his face. I heard the satisfying crack of his cheekbone as the unknown ninja fell to the ground, howling. It was then the white-haired man and Kenshu's downed bodies started twitching violently.

The blood-curling shrieks barely reached my ears as I bent down gently next to Naruto. He had a proud shine in his dancing, blue eyes and I was sure if he wasn't gagged that trademarked grin would be cutting across his face. I grinned back down at him.

After a moment of thinking, I approached the writhing bodies of our opponents. I easily picked up the abnormally large kunai, walking back to the blonde. The weapon sucked the chakra right out of the ropes, making them useless piles of twain. I then removed the gag from Naruto's mouth. He took the liberty to grin at me, mouth twisting into a grimace as he rubbed his half healing wrists.

"It's a good thing for that demon fox, dattebayo."

I gave Naruto a one armed hug as he finished assessing his wounds.

"What did you do to them Sakura-chan?" I shrugged heavily at the seizing men, a small vindictive smile on my face.

"It's a decent genjutsu. All it takes is skin-to-skin contact. Once that is established, a clear pathway to the opponent's mind sets them in a deep trance."

Naruto gulped on the expression on my face.

"What else does it do?"

"It makes them relive the single-most diabolical thing they have done in their lives, in the eyes of the victim. You literally watch yourself destroy yourself. It's quite fascinating."

Naruto gaped at me.

Seeing his shock, I felt my will soften. I released the genjutsu, letting to two men fall into a painfully soothing slumber. It was more then they deserved. I could feel a yawn building in the back of my throat. Naruto, sensing this, had the wit to catch me as I passed out into his arms for the second time this training trip.

--

It was daylight when I awoke next, eyes blinking to catch the focus of the room. The two guards were tied up as Naruto had been, facing one another on opposite sides of the room. The third shinobi from down the stairs was also restrained, laying on his stomach in the middle of the room. Naruto lit the room with a cheery smile.

"Good afternoon Sakura-chan," he greeted softly.

"Naruto-kun, did you get any sleep?"

He shook his head negative and raised his hands before I could protest.

"I found a stash of soldier pills in that one's kunai pouch." He pointed to Kenshu.

Taking one for myself, I quickly swallowed the tiny, brown medicine and stretched my sore muscles out. I saw my injury had been treated with first-aide, and thanked Naruto profusely. He blushed bashfully and lifted an arm up to scratch his head.

"So, how are we transporting the cattle?"

I took a minute to ponder the thought. There was no way we could successfully walk all three of these fully trained ninja over 10km. A large tower like this should be somewhat self-sufficient in its location. But, if it did need to reach someone in Konoha...

I turned towards the last fight of upward stairs, taking them two at a time. On the small perch there was a library of scrolls. Searching for the one we needed, I quickly unravelled it, biting my thumb and smearing the blood on the seal. A messenger hawk appeared, squawking up at me. I quickly wrote out a note on a spare scroll, sending it off to Kakashi-sensei. The golden-brown hawk soared through the air until he was out of my line of vision. I went back to Naruto's side, delivering the news. Now, it was just a matter of waiting.

--

Midway through day five, my grumpiness had gotten the best of me. I had sent the messenger off over a day ago; Kakashi-sensei should be here by now. Naruto grumbled in agreeance. It had been nearly two days since either of us had eaten, and both of us were in dire need of a shower, change of clothes, and a long nap, not necessarily in that order.

A poof of smoke saved us from our self-pity party. Kakashi-sensei appeared, late as always, with Sasuke in tow. He took in our appearances, most likely checking for fatal injuries or broken bones. After seeing we were both in one piece, he shot us one of his infamous eye-smiles.

"Sorry I'm late guys, a black cat crossed my path so I had to go the long way."

Sasuke glared up at sensei for a disbelieving moment, before turning to check on us. It was small gestures like that which made being on Team 7 worthwhile. We all cared for each other, as little as we showed it. Naruto and I just shrugged at each other, too tired to shout out a complaint.

I barely remember how we got back to Konoha. My legs seemed to be moving without any instruction from my mind, which was currently too tired to function. Naruto was taken to the hospital immediately to get his chest wound checked out. Infection was almost as big of an enemy to a ninja as kunai slashes. After much protesting, I too was taken to the hospital, were I promptly passed out again.

I awoke to a fresh change of clothes and a bandaged leg. Naruto lay in the bed next to me, sleeping with a peaceful look on his face. I decided to not bother him.

Instead I took a tour of the hospital, which ended on the building's roof. There were sheets hanging out to dry next to cement slabs protruding from the top of the building. Water towers framed the edge of the roof, blocking a beautiful view of the Konoha sunset drooping under the weight of the Hokage monument. Would Naruto's face ever be up there?

"Yo," Kakashi rose his hand in a nonmoving wave as his bulk was shifted on the top of one of the water towers. His greeting knocked me out of my state of thinking.

"Are you up for giving a report to Hokage-sama?"

"Hai, sensei."

--

The Hokage's office was tastefully furnished, as expected of someone as wise as The Professor. The Sandaime seemed as though he was expecting us, pipe lit in anticipation of the story to come. I noticed Naruto was already seated in the office, Sasuke sitting right beside him. I took the third chair, next to Sasuke-kun, fidgeting silently. It was hard to supress my shy side in the face of such a prestigious ninja.

We were, in fact, in a mission debriefing with the 'God Among Shinobi' himself. The Hokage greeted me with a wide, reassuring smile before motioning with his pipe-less hand. It seemed as though I was to start the report.

"Hokage-sama, Naruto-kun and myself were to go on a five day mission with approval from Kakashi-sensei to training grounds forty-four. We found our campsite, and were assaulted by giant centipedes who-"

"You should have seen them Jiji! These brown things were like this tall with big feelers swaying back and forth and-" Naruto was out of his seat, jumping around to prove his point. Sasuke chuckled at his explanation before Kakashi reprimanded him.

"Naruto, show the Hokage some respect. Sakura, continue."

"I was bitten after one of the colony expelled a shadow clone. Naruto-kun and I defeated all of them, before I passed out. Naruto saved me from the poison and we continued on our survival training. It was then I found out about Naruto's..." I hesitated for a moment, "host."

Sasuke looked back and forth at us with a confused expression on his face. Naruto frowned lightly. No one had verbally spoken, however, so I continued.

" On the third day I believe it was, Naruto came back after an awfully long time with firewood. I figured out it was an imposter, and went looking for the real Naruto."

"How did you know he was a fake?" Naruto questioned.

"For one, he didn't call me 'Sakura-chan'. That was the most obvious reason. The next strike was when he offered me half of his dinner. Naruto always finished a meal."

The Hokage chuckled at Naruto's indignent look.

"And finally, I fed him a false line about the night watch and he fell for it. When he woke up he was tied up and I managed to... encourage him to pass on the information on Naruto's whereabouts. He had a weird hitai-ate on, all of them did. It was blank. There was absolutely no village marking on them"

Kakashi looked slightly surprised.

"After taking out the two guards in front of the tower with a well placed trap or two, I entered the bottom floor. I took out the wandering scout, and moved up to Naruto's floor. It was there I engaged the enemy and let Naruto-kun go free from those chakra ropes. I sent the hawk out to Sensei, and we came back."

"Sakura-chan," Naruto interrupted the Hokage, who had been about to speak, "If there were five ninjas, why did we only have three bodies to tie up?"

The room went silent for a moment. I sighed in discomfort.

"I dispatched of them Naruto. Now if you will excuse me?"

"Wait Sakura." It was an order from the Sandaime Hokage, one I could not refuse.

"Whether you and Naruto knew it or not, Kakashi had signed you up on a specific mission. It was a C-ranked assassination mission, to the Forest of Death. Those shinobi you killed were wanted bandits. They thought they could find solace in the Forest, since it is rarely used as a daily training ground, if at all. The ninja you found were not ninja at all, but rather academy rejects who ran away from their villages. They use the hitai-ate to scare and bully civilians and have been a nuisance for years. You will receive your pay for a B-ranked mission, split with Naruto of course. We had not expected there to be such an organized force, or we would have sent you back-up."

"Sakura, we will begin your new training regime in a few days. You are on-leave for the next two days. Try to relax a little."

I nodded my thanks and left the room. Naruto would share his secret to Sasuke. The two were like brothers already, as much as they denied the bond formed. Sensei would most likely discuss the mission with Hokage-sama, and hopefully plan out our new training as Team 7. I would be left behind no more.

--

That was a long one, eh? I'm pretty sure that was my longest chapter on a fic to date. So what did you think? Questions, comments, concerns, etc. leave them for me :]. I'm looking for someone who isn't as Naruto-noob as I am with the jutsu names and such. Message me if you're good with that.

Happy Channukah and Merry Christmas to everyone!

Dak, out.


	4. Chapter 4

--

Chapter Four

--

--

My hands were shaking again as I exited the Hokage tower. It was a constant tremor, vibrating my fingers back and forth visibly. Feeling bloodstained and dirty, I look down: nothing but clean, pale expanse. I clench both palms as I descend the stairs, trying my hardest to keep my mind blank and my stance rigid. With my lack of concentration on my surroundings, I ran directly into someone, an obviously a female body, as I fell on top of them.

"Watch where you're going, Forehead!" a familiar blonde girl wheezes, the air temporarily knocked out of her lungs.

I scrambled to my feet in an hurry, afraid to offer my rival a hand lest she feel the shaking. That was the last thing I needed.

My glance catches her face. There is no worry or concern in her dulled eyes. All I can perceive is her anger at my carelessness, and the urgency for her mission flashing in-between the small rage. She looks nothing like what she once was before. The shaking intensifies in my grip; I clench down harder.

Ino and I had an extendedly complex relationship. When we were young, way before our preteen years, Ino had been the one to save and protect me. I was shy, too shy, of my oddly pink hair color and obscenely large forehead. A group of mean girls had been making fun of me and she had come to my defense. It sparked an instant friendship.

--

"_Friends forever, Sakura-chan?"_

_The question had caught me off guard, as we lay in the lustrous meadow, away from the groups of other students. It was a particularly sunny day, a common factor of Konoha, but the wind was at a perfect breeze to keep sweat off the foreheads of most. I looked over my shoulder to look at the younger Ino. _

_She had shorter hair in that familiar blonde color, which startled me for a moment before the memory kicked in. This was pre-Sasuke's rumored announcement of liking girls with longer hair. Her ocean blue eyes, alike and completely foreign from Naruto's own shade, were sparkling with the reflected sunlight as they bore into me. The outfit she had picked out was much less feminine then her current short skirt and top, but seemed to suit her personality better. Her adolescent mouth was set with a firm seriousness, and I now noticed the searching sweep of her pale face._

"_Of course Ino-chan! Nothing can come between us."_

_I smiled up at her, teeth set wide and innocent. She nodded once before her own grin took over her girlish face. I could feel a warm caress of my hands, so different from the sweltering heat of the sun. This was a pleasant warmth, which started in the tips of my smooth fingers to flicker and course throughout my entire being. The feeling held a safety and contentedness I would miss in the years to come. _

_We sat there, on the cushioned grass alive with beautifully ripened flowers , until the teacher's whistle forced us back inside._

--

I brush past Ino, tears so precariously close to painting my cheeks, leaving the Tower in my wake as my legs took up strength. I miss the worried look Ino shoots at my retreating back, too caught up in my own thoughts.

It would do no good for her to see me cry as she used to. We were no longer best friends, the childish promises broken and shattered. Now, we existed as rivals, a far reach from what we had once had. It still leaves an everlasting ache to think about it.

I must escape my past for now. My mind cannot deal with this much stress in a single day. Remembering my first kill is one thing; having to remember the first thing to kill me inside is another. My pace picks up as the foliage grows thicker.

I do not know exactly when or where I stopped running. I was at a well-abused training ground, empty for now, with quivering knees and palms. I sunk to the floor silently, figure spasming as the sobs ripped from my chest. The ground was rough soil, hard and practical against my clawing hands. I cried long and hard as the images flashed through my head. I could see it all.

The wide, unfocused eyes of the man I had first killed, a kunai deep into the upper arch of his nose.

The body of the second ninja, riddled with kunai, as his angry injuries weeped a slick stream of blood.

Kenshu and his partner, writhing underneath my cold stare and their mind took them to unknown horrors.

Naruto, bound and gagged with such a fear in his eye my stomach threatened to spill out my nonexistent food source.

So I cried, a long remorseful path of steady tears unforgivably messy down my pale cheek.

I cried for the unknown men, whose families would mourn them and their loss of income. I cried for Naruto, my broken teammate who had been through so much in so little time. And I cried for Ino, who had strayed so far on her life path, and whose friendship will always be stored anyway into a nook of my heart.

When the moon set an eerie glow onto the dense forest around me, I slipped into a restless sleep, begging the forgiveness of the peoples' whose lives will never be the same after meeting me.

--

I woke up to high pitched barking directly into my left ear. The noise sent me into high alert and I jumped up to my feet sloppily, wincing at the bright smile of the sun and the stiffness of my neck and lower back. Drawing a kunai with a bit more grace, my sleepy eyes scanned the surroundings. An ankle-sized, white Akamaru yipped up at me again, wet nose nudging my ankle. An amused Kiba entered my field of sight, as well as a meek Hinata and the indiscernible Shino.

"Oi, Sakura, what are you doing here?"

I blinked up at him twice, trying to get the clouded feelings out of my eyes. It dawned on me that I had passed out on Team Eight's training grounds. I kicked the hardened ground under me, trying to erase the scratch marks I had inflicted last night. Akamaru barked yet again.

"I... fell asleep here."

"What where you-"

"Kiba-kun," Hinata did not have her usual stutter. I had noticed that it seemed to pick up around Naruto-kun.

Kiba scratched his head in question.

"Sakura-san was most likely training and fell asleep from chakra exhaustion."

Kiba nodded his head a couple of times, agreeing with Hinata's assessment. It was then I could feel the streaks of dried tears on my skin. I wiped them hurriedly, making a note to thank Hinata in the future. That could have led to risky territory, and brought up a lot of questions I did not want to answer.

Yuhi Kurenai jumped down from an anonymous branch, feet as light and quick as a proper jonin. She smiled down at me.

"Sakura," she tilted her head at me.

Kurenai was the jonin-sensei of Team Eight. The skilled kunoichi had shoulder length, lusciously wavy black hair and striking features. I had seen her and Kakashi strolling down the dirt roads of the village numerous times. She seemed to recognize me as one of her drinking buddy's students.

Her red eyes held question in them, and I had no doubt she had heard our quick exchange. She could tell a lie, especially from a genin team. Kurenai was Konohagakure's genjutsu mistress, a glorious title which she upheld with honor. It must have been fate which led me to these training grounds last night in my ignorant stumbling. I was not about to pass up an opportunity.

"Kurenai-san, could you spare me a moment of your time?"

The beautiful kunoichi sent her team to warm up, bringing me over to a spot out of the shade.

"Forgive me for interrupting Team Eight's training Kurenai-san, but I was wondering if you could tutor me in genjutsu."

Kurenai looked at me silently for a minute, no doubt assessing my potential. I stood with an upright stance, defiance in my eyes and a stubborn set to my chin.

"I have my own team to attend to Sakura, the amount of time I have-"

"I can train with your team if necessary Kurenai-san, or whatever free time you can spare," My tone was solid and direct, with an undertone of pleading I'm sure her skilled ears could pick up.

She looked slightly shocked that I would cut her off mid-sentence but seemed to be contemplating my words in her head. The silence was deafening for the couple of minutes it was drawn out. I had no idea what was going through the jonin's head.

"Alright Sakura. You will train with my team today so I can properly assess your skill level, if it is up to par, I will agree to take you on as an apprentice of sorts."

With that line, she turned away from me, calling her three pupils over to discuss the new situation.

"Shino and Kiba will take the left side of the training grounds. Hinata, you and Sakura will be sparring today. We will go through two rounds: the first being nin- and tai-jutsu only, and the last being free style. Go to your allotted sides and begin."

Hinata looked nervous; she had always had a lack of confidence. The girl settled in her standard Hyuuga Juuken stance, left arm extended in front of her and right arm back near her side and at the ready. Her Byakugan was activated, veins popping out into their signature appearance with the dojutsu.

I settled into a slightly modified academy stance I had been working on. The form held less kicks and required more upper body stance and movement. Inside of solid techniques, like Naruto preformed, my stance held cartwheels and flips, giving off a more feminine appeal and advantage. I knew I didn't have muscles built up, leaving me with a lighter body weight to maneuver. I wanted to use this to my advantage, thus the birth of my taijustu.

Hinata charged forward, her lithe body dashing in for a powerful Juuken strike to incapacitate my arm. I dodged to the left before she could get near enough to land the palmed attack, pushing my body weight back to land a fist on her exposed back. She swept her feet out, taking advantage of my off balance to attempt to land a painful hit on my arm.

The muscles in my back burned with effort as I narrowly avoided the glowing hands, jumping back to prepare for another attack. I stared at the Hyuuga's hands as I tried my hardest to dodge and duck every strike sent at me. I pushed my hand into simple hand signs, using an academy-leveled fire jutsu to earn me a few more seconds of contemplation.

I thought about taking out the modified kunai I had taken from Kenshu's companion, but thought better of it. Who said the bulky knife could deflect the power of the Juuken? It was a chance I was not willing to take. I had to prove myself to Yuhi-san.

I stared up at the charging Hyuuga, a kunoichi born for fighting with a distinct kekkei genkai. Her delicacy and the dancing chakra on her extremities set forth a spark of recognition.

Hinata's glowing hands had finally triggered my memories of the Forest of Death battle.

--

_His motions seemed slower, much more obvious as I parried the blows. _

_Slash upwards, off-balance kick, backhanded slash, right hook. _

_My rage took on a concentrated form as I channeled chakra into my knuckles, slamming it across his face. _

_I heard the satisfying crack of his cheekbone as the unknown ninja fell to the ground, howling. _

_It was then the white-haired man and Kenshu's downed bodies started twitching violently._

--

Could I do it again? My mind heavily doubted it.

I had been so worked up into a rage that the chakra control had been almost primal; my mind had taken no notice to the change. I tried my hardest to flatten out my chakra, pulling it up directly from the center of my palm. It jelled out in an inch thick layer, coaxing up my fingers until it engulfed the underside of my hand. The cool warmth seeped around the top of my hand, oozing up the flats of my knuckles.

I barrel-rolled to the side with chakra in my feet as Hinata's next attack almost had taken me by surprise. The control of my chakra-enhanced hand wavered for a minute as I hurriedly tried to reinforce it. Just as I was about to spring forward in my offensive attack, Kurenai-san called for a pause. We had been fighting for longer then I had thought, as I just realized the ragged breathes I had been pulling into my chest. It was a draw.

"Free styled dueling after you both rehydrate quickly"

Hinata offered her water skin up immediately, but I motioned for her to drink first. She was too easily dominated, and had much too little self-preservation. She needed to remember that she was first in her own life.

After meekly sipping her own water, she passed it on to me. Nearly three mouthfuls later, I was slightly refreshed, and handed the shy girl her water back. She took another pull and it was then I realized she had hesitated on drinking to make sure I had enough.

Hyuuga Hinata was a small girl, shorter then me. Her dark purple hair was cut short and up around her ears, and she had the signature white-pupil clan eyes. She wore an over-sized, thick jacket, which dwarfed her with its extensive fabric. The girl was a mystery, and a complete opposite to the rest of her self-righteous clan.

"Thank you, for earlier," I called out softly, turning my head to check on the rest of Team Eight's location. She blushed slightly and turned her flighty gaze to the ground.

"You need to stick up for yourself more, Hinata-san. You are a good ninja, but lack one basic ninja skill."

The slight frown set on her face made me think she had heard that numerous times in her life. I wondered if my answer was that common, too.

"Self confidence, Hinata-san. You have to belief in yourself, so others can be inspired by you. That's what Naruto-kun does. I believe in you Hinata, and I'm sure others do too."

She looked up at me under long eyelashes, creamy eyes full of awe. I smiled, a large, sloppy, Naruto-like grin and she smiled her timid grin back.

"Don't hold back, Hinata-chan."

She nodded at the informal advice and renewed her Byakugan. and her will, with a determined smile.

--

I was past the point of panting, doubled over with my hands above my head. The fight had been vigorous, with Hinata's gentle fist closing off numerous tenketsu in my arms, legs and various other important parts. With my half developed taijutsu style and generic jutsu, it was rough to keep up with the Hyuuga heiress. I think the rapidly developing chakra fist I had started using gave me somewhat of an edge, for it had not been seen before in Konoha in decades.

It would be a lie if I said the style came directly from my own imagination. Early in my academy years, I had taken a hobby to researching the great Slug Sannin, Tsunade. The three Sannin were legendary in Konohagakure, bringing much prestige and infamy to the land.

It was then Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin, was caught experimenting on live, human patients to find a way to live forever. He defected from Konoha, leaving Tsunade and the Frog Hermit, or Sannin, Jiraiya. The Sannin were students of the Third Hokage.

Tsunade was exceptionally noticed due to her genetic ties with the first Hokage, being his granddaughter, and the Second Hokage, being his grandniece. Her excellence was in extreme chakra control and medical ninjutsu.

After Sensei noticed my superb chakra control capabilities, Tsunade's work seemed more relevant to my own training. She utilized a taijutsu dubbed "inhuman strength". The personal style was not fully illustrated, but I could puzzle out the basic gist of the jutsu. Thus, my own personal style was formed.

I glanced over at Hinata, who seemed to be just as red in the face as I was. Her breath intake was obviously more shallow then my own, but it felt good to see at least some form of fatigue on my opponent.

I dropped onto the ground, arms remaining above my head as my harsh breathing diminished. A long shadow blocked out the unrelenting sun as a cool breeze eased my sweat-soaked forehead. I looked up into those vibrant red eyes with a hopeful expression. I had given that spar my all, and whether or not I would excel in genjutsu was in the hands of the woman standing before me.

"You have neglected your taijutsu training..." Kurenai stared off slowly.

"However, I see much promise and determination in you. There are too many ninja who take my craft for granted. Shinobi of today want brash and flashy, when a simple illusion would suffice. I will gladly take you on for extra genjutsu training on one condition."

"Hai sensei?" I asked tentatively. She shot me a reassuring smile which lit up her pretty features.

"You must improve your body before you can take on the strategies to break a mind. Taijutsu will also help expand your basic chakra reserves which are, to be frank, lacking. I will talk to Maito Gai, and have him give you some pointers on your taijutsu stance and overall fitness. You will report to Gai at least twice a week unless he is out on an extended mission. Are you willing to compromise your free time for this? It will not be easy."

My affirmation was quick and without hesitation. Maito Gai was another common, household name. He is the Legendary Green Beast of Konoha, the taijutsu master. I have heard numerous anecdotes on his quirky personality, but it shouldn't be anything I can't handle. How could I refuse the offer of specialty training with two famous figureheads of my village?

--

About five minutes into my first session with Gai makes me regret my poor decision. He is talk and extremely muscular, with a black bowl cut and caterpillar-like eyebrows. His gaze is piercing and unsettling. He is dressed in a trademark green spandex full body suit which makes a slight twitch occur over my right eyebrow.

Gai-sensei is always yelling about youth and youthful things. He has three students : Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, and TenTen.

Rock Lee is a Gai-sensei clone. He has the same haircut, bushy brows, spandex and loud, unnerving voice. The first minute I had approached my new sensei, he was declaring his undying devotion to me.

"Ah, beautiful flower, what is the name of my future girlfriend!"

The pitch of his voice made me wince as I backed away slightly. The solitary girl smacked him over the head with her open palm.

"Lee, leave Sakura alone."

TenTen and I had met before, on a cloudy day on a random training field over a year ago. I had stumbled across her kunai throwing.

--

_The trees started to thin out as I ran towards the normally abandoned field. Iruka-sensei had been complaining about my lack of precision in kunai throwing, and I had to prove him wrong._

_Training yard thirty-eight had the best shuriken targets. They were replaced most often and were a local gathering places on the weekends for kunai competitions._

_It was mid-Wednesday, and I had figured the field to be desolate._

_A young girl, barely older then myself, was at the nearest target, a scroll of kunai in her hand. Her chocolaty brown hair was up in two buns and her identical colored eyes were narrowed in concentration. She launched the sharpened knifes with what seemed like a reckless speed. Much to my dismay, all of the targets landed true on the dummy, vital points critically hit. _

_I walked to the target next to her and focused on the person-like target. Stiffening my wrist, I released two kunai. The first one missed the edge of the target by centimeters and the second star hit low, too low for any serious damage. I blushed red in shame as the girl stared._

"_You're doing it wrong," she stated, before walking over to me._

_The mysterious girl corrected my stance and wrist posture before going back to her own throwing._

--

It had taken three meetings to get her name, and then it was just her personal name: TenTen. Two weeks later, I found out she didn't have a family name, loved any weapon of steel, and was in the ninja academy a year ahead of my class. Three weeks later, I found out her favorite foods, her likes and dislikes, and assorted ninja facts. Two days after she was placed on a ninja team, and did not have time to hang out with academy students like myself with her new missions. I had missed the company.

She grinned sheepishly at me, before waving me over to meet the final member of Team Gai.

Hyuuga Neji, Hinata's older cousin. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder and a Sasuke-esque attitude. We instantly didn't get along, which I found ironic considering how well he resembled my dark-haired teammate. Neji was a boy of few words with a deep, scathing stare. I turned my attention back to Gai-Sensei.

"Good morning my youthful students!" His voice boomed,

"We will start off our run around the lovely Konoha village. Ten laps!"

I stared in disbelief at the man as Team Gai had already started preparing. It would be a long day, that was for sure.

--

Hours later we arrived back at the training ground. Lee seemed full of excitement while Neji and TenTen seemed a bit winded.

I felt like a steamroller had just done a couple of laps over my body.

It was then that Gai-sensei introduced weights. I had four chakra compacted slots tied, one to each arm, and one on each ankle. While the change wasn't too bad, I could feel the definite disadvantage I was at speed-wise. Thank Kami Gai-sensei didn't put these one before the run; I would be dead if he had.

We continued with pure physical exercises, and I learned that despite being a shinobi, Lee could not mold chakra, therefore he was unable to perform ninjutsu or genjutsu. That surprised me at first, but explained why he wasn't tired after the run and where all that determination came from. Lee had a point to prove to the world, and I respected him for that.

At the end of the day, I was sore in places that I didn't know had muscle and exhausted enough to sleep on my feet. It was then Gai called me over.

"You performed very youthful today, Sakura. Our next meeting will be in a half a weeks time. You must take these youthful exercises with you every day, and keep practicing. The weights should stay on at all time Sakura, they are water-resistant. We will up them at our next training session, the weights add to your muscle bulk and endurance. They will help you keep you in the ninja world. That is the only way to get better!"

"Yosh Gai-Sensei!Please up my weights now" Lee echoed in the background as I made my way back to my quiet house.

Between genjutsu training with Kurenai-sensei once a week, endurance training with Gai-sensei twice a week, and normal team training with Kakashi-sensei, it seemed my life had just gotten a whole lot more interesting.

--

Here's the deal. I could throw a bucket of excuses at you but I won't. Break was break, and now I'm back. I plan on giving you good, faithful readers an update every/every other Sunday. Yes I realize it's almost Monday as I post this, but I have Midterms this week, so cut a girl some slack xD. As for how much this is going to follow the Naruto storyline, and where or when it will deviate completely... I wish I could tell you. I have an ending somewhat prepared for this, but the journey to that ending is going to be completely freehand. I can't really give an estimation on how long it's going to be.

Other then that, what'd you think of this Chapter? We meet Team Gai early and have unexpected interactions with Team Eight.

How will Ino complicate the matter?

How will this change the Konoha Twelve?

Was this chapter a little too angsty? Too little action? Not enough time movement?

You tell me, readers.

Dak, out.


	5. Chapter 5

--

Chapter Five

--

--

I was an idiot. Well, technically, it would be better to say I am an idiot. I must have eaten my bowl of stupid for breakfast when I thought I could handle this routine.

It has been a week since my meeting with Gai-Sensei. In that time, I had my weights upped twice in my legs and once in my arms; my green-clad jonin instructor had decided that I needed more speed for my taijutsu form to work.

Despite his overly "youthful" attitude, Maito Gai was a taijutsu genius. Within the three meetings I had had with him, my pseudo-Tsunade form was in a greatly perfected state, my endurance and chakra reserves are inching forward, and for the first time I feel like I was a real kunoichi of Konohagakure.

TenTen and I had quickly reestablished our easy flowing friendship. She often accompanied me to lunch on the days I didn't have other training requirements, or when she wasn't busy training herself. She had a weak spot for ramen, much like my blonde-haired teammate, so Ichiraku ramen stand was a common hangout.

Hyuuga Neji remained as elusive as ever. I got the distinct feeling that he considered himself better then me, and the rest of his team. I lost a great deal of respect for the so-called "prodigy" and Rookie of the Year for the graduating class before my own. TenTen had told me not to take it personal, and that Neji was just something to get used to. I felt slightly appalled with how he treated his comrades. It just didn't seem to sit right with me, but who was I to judge?

Rock Lee's enthusiasm could get extremely taxing at some times, but Lee was a good-hearted guy who brought passion to the team. His only real setback was the annoying way he kept asking me-

"Sakura-chan! Be my girlfriend, I will protect you with my life. Yosh!"

I sighed in exasperation at Lee's undying stubborn declarations of love. I am on my way to being an elite ninja. I do not have time for relationships or the useless drama that comes with them.

I stop in the middle of a push up, arms burning with exertion as I pondered the ground underneath me. Did I truly mean what I had said? When had this change of focus set in so deep without my own notice?

My thoughts fluttered back to Ino as I pushed my chest close to the ground in my exercise continuations. Was our "rivalry" finally over? Could we be friends again?

Our argument stained my cheeks red with embarrassment when I think about it. I was brash and harsh, not letting Ino explain what the vicious rumor mill had tricked my mind into believing. And why was Ino liking Sasuke such a big deal? Why did it hurt so badly?

"Sakura! Does your youthfulness flicker?"

I looked up into the glowing, confused, concerned eyes of Gai-Sensei. I forced a grin on my face and picked up the pace of my warm-ups. Now was not the time to let my mind wander. I let the adrenaline flood my senses completely as our physical training session started.

--

It was nearing ten when the spars started. TenTen and I were facing off, serious looks etched onto our faces. No one moved for the first minute as we sized one another up. I could feel the adrenaline start to pump its way through my veins, muscles go rigidly tight, waiting for the brown-haired girl to make the first move. Her chocolaty eyes were cold and calculating.

This was not the TenTen I shared childhood memories or miso ramen with. This was the opponent, a cold-blooded killer with a sharp kunai in her hand. Her stance was defensive, yet offensive at the same time. I saw her right hand twitching with anticipation, inching its way towards the large scroll hooked onto her belt loops.

The light mid-morning breeze fluttered through my long pink hair and swirled around my stiff calves. TenTen's right hand shot forward, stretching open the long scroll on on her waist in front of her with a flourish. The kanji-riddled sheet was nearly three feet wide and a small smear of blood opened the summonings. The sharp kunai and shuriken were headed straight at me, to embed in my critical arteries and stop the blood flow to my heart.

But I was already moving by the time her digits had fluttered, dodging and pulling out a few kunai of my own. Foreseeing my preparedness, TenTen already had a second and third scroll open. She launched the metallic weapons in my direction before pulling out a demon wind shuriken.

I backpedaled quickly, barely avoiding a painful encounter with my friend's favorite toys. There had to be a way around the metal to attack her. I ran into the foliage surrounding the training area, trying to devise a simple plan.

TenTen wasn't the type to taunt. She stood silent for a moving before moving into the treetops around me. I completed a few hand signs before skipping off to another tree to repeat the signals. I rushed a bit, making me worry about the condition of my jutsu, but brushed it off as I jumped behind a tree.

TenTen had heard the noise.

She jumped down, landing at my hiding place behind the tree. A fist lashed out to connect with the side of my unsuspecting puff of pink hair. The weapons mistress' eyes bulged as I disappeared into a stack of sharpened branches, effectively cutting open her throwing hand. She stumbled back into the center of the pseudo-clearings and I grinned behind the trunk of my hiding spot. I pushed my hands into a final "Ram" sign and felt the jutsu slip into place.

TenTen cursed audibly as nearly a dozen Sakura clones rushed her at once. She drew a kunai and hacked and slashed the best she could. Any clone she made contact with exploded into leaves, tree branches or rotting stumps. A few managed to nick the panicking girl's arms and legs, further driving her heartbeat up.

I had been waiting for my opening. As the dark-haired girl stumbled as a replica that exploded into a stack of dangerously coated throwing stars. She failed to dodge all of them as a kunai melted into the fleshy part of her clothed thigh. TenTen cried out in pain as I rushed forward, abnormally large in hand. I placed the thick metal up to her jugular.

"Yield. That's poison spreading through your femur."

Unknowingly, the last of her chakra was being absorbed from her body and into mine.

TenTen gave a strangled cry and I helped my her up gently. She was no longer TenTen the enemy. She was the panda of a girl who had become a best friend. A comrade in need of aid. I tilted her lolling head back slightly as the cure rushed through her parted lips. Her expressionless face was filled with a rueful smile.

"What the hell was that?"

I grinned back down at her under the bangs that had escapes my hitai-ate's hold. I brush them back with an annoyed swipe of my hand.

"Genjutsu," I fail to elaborate, causing her to stick her tongue out at me petulantly.

TenTen has to know how and why thinks work. It makes it fun to play with her a bit.

"What kind of genjutsu?"

"One I was taught," I respond innocently. She growls at me.

"It's called Forest Mirrors. There were no clones at all. It makes your mind replace the elements of the jungle with your enemy, according to selected "release" spots. The shuriken cloud was merely a well timed throw, once I knew your senses were dulled enough to make a frontal attack."

My friend-turned-opponent nodded sagely at my explanation.

"How were you stealing my chakra?"

Motioning silently to my kunai-esque dagger, I explained the story of how and why I had it.

Then I took a deep breath.

"TenTen-sama..." I started slowly. She growled once again, this time at the honorific.

"I think you should perhaps... well... work on your taijutsu form," My mouth started that horrible thing were it doesn't listen to my brain again. "It's not that yours is bad it's just what if you fight again a wind-user, or someone who can cancel your kunai. I was thinking you either take up extra sword lessons or, um, maybe find a new selection of jutsu for backup?"

I took a large pull of air and smacked myself mentally. Ever since my fight in the tower of the Forest of Death I've been much more impulsive and blunt with my words.

The lone girl of Team Eight blinked up at me for a few seconds before getting to her feet. A probing look crossed her face as she looked directly into my eyes. We stood, her larger frame staring me down for a few precious minutes.

She nodded with resign and looked down at her sandal-clad feet.

"Where should we start?"

--

--

A month later of daily training with three senseis and my good friends left me sore every day. Some days I woke up with legs so pained I couldn't leave the bed for hours. Other days I wake up with them numbed. I haven't decided which is worse.

It had been approximately five and a half weeks since I have started my new ninja way. My endurance and chakra reserves are much less pathetic. Gai-sensei has worked me hard, and my new slightly-sculpted muscles leave me proud. My weights, while nowhere near as heavy as Lee's, leave a decent sized indentation on the earth when dropped from my hand.

My taijutsu form has been altered again. I no longer have flips and cartwheels in my routine. Gai-sensei has ruled them impractical with my expanding muscular physique. They have instead been replaced with a flowing form of dodges and strikes. My fighting style is still very top-heavy with punches and arm maneuvers. My chakra fist technique has also been coming much easier to me, but is nowhere near finished, in my opinion.

Kurenai-sensei has remarked on my minor growth into the world of genjutsu. I can now preform B-ranked illusions, and less then a handful of A-ranked ones. I think sensei just likes having someone as interested as her in the art of deceiving the mind. Either way, my practical knowledge has expanded greatly.

Kakashi-sensei and Team Seven have grown. We mesh well together, with Naruto's resilient, brash brawling skills, Sasuke's extensive jutsu memorization skills, and my own mix of genjutsu and taijutsu.

On a personal note, Naruto-kun and I have grown closer, purely platonic, but closer. Sasuke seems to have warmed up to me once he saw that I was no longer a rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth fan girl anymore. He is much more civil to Naruto and myself, and I secretly think he has a soft spot for Team Seven. He and Naruto no longer call or think of me as useless.

Last night was a double-session with Kurenai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. I have another duo-sensei day ahead of me, something that is usually scheduled to never happen. I guess I'll just have to suck it for today, and take my day off tomorrow as an actual day off.

I throw myself out of bed and into a cold shower. It is about four in the morning and I have a session with the Green Beast for endurance training today. Eating very lightly, some toast I don't mind throwing up later, I settle into my daily self-schedule.

There is an untitled book laying on the floor of my room. I look briefly in each direction, wondering where the worn novel could have came from. I cataloged all of the books I owned, a meticulous habit, and this was not of of my own. A small slip of parchment was attached to the inside cover.

_"Your interest in the Slug Sanin should be fueled with this. A token for your improvements and a good luck memento in your future trainings."_

I stare at the leather bound book for another minute before flipping to the first page. It was written in a vaguely familiar script that my tired mind couldn't place. I shrugged it off and continued on to my training. I could examine it later.

The exercises which had once called me severe pain or to break a sweat now just warmed my body up. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and now more stretching. Afterwards it was two laps around Konoha.

I reach the familiar training ground five minutes early. Only Lee and TenTen are there; this training is not necessary, therefore Neji does not show up. I nod to both of them before taking a seat next to the stoic looking TenTen. She had been dedicating herself to ninja practices just as much as I had. The weapons mistress was now much more efficient with twin katanas, with thick brown-glossed steel hilts. Her mental jutsu library incorporated her numerous styles of fighting with her weapons and attacks. She has been working hard to become more well rounded, her attendance her a prime example.

"Yosh! My youthful students are here. Let us begin with something light!"

'Something light' turned out to be ten laps around the village. While my body was in much better condition then before, the long run still took some energy out of me. It made me smile slightly to see TenTen's breath heave out of her chest for a couple of minutes.

We continued the day with a number of endurance and speed training exercises. From wind sprints to twenty more laps around the village, we were thoroughly worked as the sun peeked its mocking head over the thick walls of Konohagakure.

When the sun was nestled snuggly into the clouds of the sky, our training session was over. I nodded my goodbyes to the partial Team Gai, lamenting about my lack of lunch with my good friend. We split our separate ways as I made my way to Team Seven training grounds.

Naruto greeted me with a full-bodied hug, despite the sweat that clung to my frame. His face-splitting grin was present and we all knew why. Today was mission day.

After proving our adequacy to Kakashi-sensei, we cut back on 'teamwork' days to get more field experience. Our growing nickname was "Team Demolition", one a took with a bit of pride.

It had started the week prior. Kakashi-sensei had been handed a C-ranked mission to take out a bandit camp, and let us go on our own. As we switched every mission, it was my turn to take a play at team captain for the mission.

Sasuke had stocked up on various ninja supplies for the team: shuriken, trip wire, kunai, exploding tags, smoke bombs and numerous other items. Naruto and myself had grabbed the team tent gear and set out.

We easily stalked down the bandit camp in a northern forest outside of Konoha.

There were two dozen men with their leader: an unidentified leader. As per my orders, we sent a messenger hawk to Kakashi on instructions on how to proceed with the new mission. We had classified him as a nukenin, due to our lack of information; A missing-nin could prove to be too much for a team of genin. The shinobi, later to be identified as a jonin from the Iwagakure, had spotted the bird flying away and closed in on our position.

--

One Week Prior

--

"Naruto get down!" Sasuke's normally collected voice cried out.

Naruto hit the deck as a glistening set of kunai sliced through the outter layer of his jumpsuit.

I still need to take him shopping for a new one.

The jonin and his camp of bandits surrounded us. The civilians held numerous odd weapons: pitchforks, daggers, and some even grasped unevenly on iron broadswords.

My eyes narrowed as the jonin gave an exaggeratedly long speech on Iwa's superiority and his jonin status. I had noticed Naruto shaking at the word Iwakagure, an unhealthy red hue swirling about his trembling form. I put a comforting hand on his shoulder, trying hard to not cry out at the pain of the condensed chakra burning my flesh.

"Naruto-kun, calm down," I grit out between my clenched teeth.

The touch seemed to snap him back into reality and he let loose a remorseful frown at my hand's condition. I took out a small vile of cream and applied it as the nukenin continued his self-righteous speech. A yawn escaped Sasuke's lips, and the enemy charged.

Numerous blades skewered the bodies of Naruto and Sasuke, blood leaking from their dire wounds. A rusted spear was shoved into my abdomen, a dribble of crimson flooding from my mouth. It was at the point when the Iwa nin's smirk cut into his eyes that a kunai embedded itself into his spine. Naruto stood behind him with a sadistic gleam in his slitted cerulean eyes, twisted the metal knife as a blood curling scream escaped the jonin's mouth and he collapsed the the floor.

The three dying forms disappeared in a wisp of smoke, my own letting forth a slew of exploding tags in the shape of Sakura petals. My blood pounded in my head, adrenaline seeping to mix with my own form of concentrated rage. It had been a common battle occurance for me since my inner-self somehow merged in my mind. I pushed the loose trains of thought out of my mind.

I glared at the paralyzed missing nin as the detonation phrase and hard sign slipped into place, decimating the forest as Sasuke let forth a giant fireball at the exact same time. Kakashi sensei arrived minutes later to a blackened form of what used to be a minor forest clearing. Corspses lay strewn into branches of trees and once-verdant patches of grass. Dismembered parts clumped in sickening chunks and slivers around the explosion areas. Any surviving humans would have burned to death with the intensity of Sasuke's fire jutsu. Kakashi examined the charred remains before barking orders at the reserve genin team. They secured any bodies or weapons which could be of use while we moved on the abandoned camp.

What we found sickened me. Numerous women were bleeding and tied down, the abuse apparent on their nude forms. A dozen men were swinging from ropes by their cracked necks, the words "Rebellious Slaves" carved amateurishly out of senbon or something equally as sharp. Infants lay in a heap, bodies blue and sickly with the signs of a prolonged death about their necks. Horses and wagons were at the border of the camp, filled with stolen wares and goods. The bandits had robbed a small defenseless village before we could reach them. They had taken and raped numerous lives. Anger flooded through my veins, numbing my senses as I cut the ropes holding the indisposed women. I marched my way back to the fallen jonin.

His face was pale, due to his large amount of blood loss. His upper regions quivered and writhed on the ground as his lower body remained motionless. If he survived this encounter, he would be paralyzed for life. If he survived.

I pulled him up slightly, making his crazed eyes look directly into my hardened emerald gaze. He flinched back, trying to avoid my gaze and I snapped a joint in his neck. It was not a fracture that could kill him, but if left unhealed, would paralyze his facial expressions and neck movements. I glared harder, my breathe coming in shallow pulls.

"Those women," I growled at him. His eyes widened in fear as he tried to further slip my grasp.

"Those women," I repeated, "Where did they come from? The men.... the children. Where?"

His voice was raspy and dehydrated, a far cry from his arrogance earlier.

"Th-They were Iwa traitors, civilians preparing to flee to Konoha for-"

I backhanded him viciously, breaking his jaw with my chakra enhanced strike. I zeroed in on my feelings to remember how to unconsciously call forth this technique.

The jonin howled in pain, reaching up to clutch his face. Before he could, a sickening snap could be heard on either side of his torso. I shifted, glancing out of the corners of my eye to see Naruto holding his left arm, Sasuke his right. Each had broken the dangling appendages with the looks of cold, apathetic executioners.

The shrieks of terror echoed along the empty tree lines as the substitute genin team watched with unmoving posture. I got to my feet, monotoning orders which Naruto and Sasuke followed exactly.

His harsh cries had filled the air, begging for help from anyone, anything, and eventually God. Sasuke chuckled darkly at this with a bone-chilling reply,

"The Shinigami will answer your calls soon enough."

That had silenced the Iwa-nin.

We reached the middle of his campgrounds, dragging his useless legs in the thick dirt of the open area.

"Hold him up." My comrades approached me, the pathetic ninja's face dripping with blood from my attack.

"Do you see what you've done?" We forced his face to view it, one by one.

The frightened women. The hanging men. The stack of dead babies.

"All citizens of your village," I continued in a deliberate whisper,

" They did nothing wrong, nothing at all. These were mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of your teammates, your gentry, your village. And you spit on their meaning. You spit on their memories and you spit on the true meaning of a shinobi."

I activated the same handsigns I had used at Training Ground #44, slamming my hand into his gut.

Naruto and Sasuke dropped him with merciless eyes as he thudded again the floor. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as the first wave of pain hit. The inhumane noises continued for nearly ten minutes before Naruto and Sasuke leaped forward at the same time, beheading him with a coil of barbed trip wire.

The reserve genin team was finishing up the surveillance of the bandit living grounds and the forest fight scene. They stepped out of the way and I heard one of them whispering.

The only words to reach my tired ears were "Team Demolition."

I made it halfway to Konohagakure, riding on this words of pride, before I broken down completely, sobbing into Naruto's shoulder as Sasuke awkwardly rubbed my back in a soothing method.

The name had stuck since that day.

--

--

"Sakura-chan? You okay?"

Naruto-kun's words snapped me back into the present. We were at the foot of the Hokage tower.

We climbed our way up the extended tower, making our way to the mission room. Iruka-sensei and Hokage-sama happened to be working today. Kakashi-sensei approached the table with us a couple of steps behind. Naruto was practically bouncing up and down with excitements. I grinned tiredly at his enthusiasm.

"Ah, just the team I was looking to see."

The Hokage took a puff from his wooden pipe, blowing out a succession of smoke rings. He handed Kakashi a thin folder with a 'C' insignia on the cover. Naruto was actually bouncing now. Sasuke rolled his eyes at his teammate's antics and we both placed a hand on either shoulder to ground Naruto. He scratched his head sheepishly when he realized what he was doing.

"It is a simple assignment for our growing genin," he drawled with a smile curving his aged lips.

"There is a small camp of bandits, an offshoot of the ones you dealt with last week congregating 5km from the western gates. There are a estimated dozen of armed hostile forces with no reports of any shinobi whatsoever..."

The sun dipped halfway through the sky, visible over the reassuring gates of home. The bandits had been easily dispatched, their camp now an incinerated puddle of what it once was. My eyes drooped low as we sprinted her way back to her hometown. It had been a long day, and now nearly four in the afternoon, fatigue was well worked into her body.

A yawn escaped her betraying lips, a sight that did not hide from the notice of her team.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, why don't you three head on home. I can take care of the debriefing,"

Kakashi called out, flashing them one of his infamous eye-smiles. The three tired genin nodded, separating from their sensei at the entrance of Konoha's sturdy gates.

"I'll see you two soon," I called out, already turning my steps in the direction of home.

"Do you need me to walk you home Sakura-chan?"

"I'll be fine Naruto-kun."

I made it twenty-five steps before tripping over the roots of a tree, falling face first into darkness.

--

I'm sorry for being a week late guys .. In the words of a knowledgeable college student "Don't taze me bro."

Thank you for all the favorites/reviewers/alerts. I luff you all immensely. I promise to have this out before/on the 15th.

How did y'all like this chapter? Good? Slow? Bad?

Feedback is always appreciated. Happy Superbowl... if that counts as a holiday?

-Dak


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The dark was comforting, lulling me further into its depths. I snuggled into a warmth radiating along my right side, sighing in content pleasure as it spread further, enveloping my cold form. A familiar floral scent wafted through my nostrils, and I sighed in pleasure. That nostalgic reminder sent a jolt of want up my spine and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. As I drifted back into unconsciousness I heard a wisp of a voice ring through my head.

"What have you done to yourself Saku?"

My lungs explode trying to answer them; no sound comes out. I gasp and shake trying to push the words from my throat. The midnight swarms my senses once more.

I awake to a brightly lit room, two people conversing in harsh, short tones. My arms stir restlessness, but the two blondes were too caught up in their argument to notice my consciousness.

"Why do you even care, we all know you abandoned her for the-"

"You have no right to judge me baka, none at all, I'm sure you didn't even hear the full-"

"I don't care. You don't just abandon friends like that, what right do you-"

A resounding echo cut through the spartan, white room, a welting red mark already stinging Naruto's tanned cheek

She glared up at him, from under her parted bangs. A familiar set of furious, baby blues glared into Naruto's serious cerulean eyes. I wondered what was going on, not being able to piece the heated conversation in my mind.

"Why are you here?"

I shivered involuntarily at Naruto's jagged tone. I took a second to study his face, the protective stance he had over me, the punishing cut of his eyes, and the clenched fist above his kunai holster. Moisture clouds at the corner of my vision, making everything seem as though it was a faded reality. The silence weights heavily on the room, two intense, unflinching stares wordlessly battling. I clear my throat and plaster a confused look on my face. My mind was slowly clearing and the situation was racing through my semi-groggy mind.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto flashed me a pained smile, obviously fake. I sat up slowly and took his hand reassuringly, rubbing soothing circles into it. He grabbed me up in an unexpected hug, emotion thick in his voice.

"Ne, I'm so glad you're okay Sakura-chan."

I hugged him with a soft smile on my chapped lips. He pulled back a bit, smiling with unfiltered joy in his sparkling eyes. It was moments like these where shouldering my responsibilities seemed bearable. When I had reliable teammates, comrades, brothers like Naruto-kun, and even Sasuke, to be there for me when I needed them most, I could take on the world.

"Naruto-kun, arigato for catching me," He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and looked away. My gaze turned to Ino, who was still glaring at Naruto.

"Ah, well Ino-san caught you. She refused to hand you over until we got here."

His voice was harder then stone as he fixed his scowl to the ceiling. My swimming mind focused in on his words. Why would Ino catch me, let alone carry me miles to the hospital? It made no sense.

"Naruto-kun, could you go fetch Sasuke? After that, I'll take you shopping like I promised."

He grinned recklessly at me, nodding his head. He was halfway out the window before I could finish my sentence.

I shook my head at the hyperactive ninja's exit point, wincing at the stiffness my neck had to offer. Ino was at my side in seconds.

"Forehead, are you okay?"

I growled at the condescending nickname, pushing her soft hands away from my injuries.

"Yamanaka-san, what do you want?"

Her face dropped at the formality, and something stung inside of me. I brushed it away, intent on keeping my apathetic tone with my former best friend. She couldn't see how much I missed her, reestablishing our bonds would just be a waste of my training time.

"Sakura..." her hesitant tone nearly broke me and I looked up into those familiar eyes. This was the Ino I knew. The Ino who defended me from bullies, the young and rowdy blonde girl who went flower picking and played tag with me under the hearty glow of the Konoha sun. This was _my_ Ino. I could feel my gaze and face soften.

"I miss you, Sakura-chan." It was her turn to look away, finding something abstractly intriguing on the floor next to her scuffed ninja sandals.

"I didn't catch that, with the wonderful way you've been treating me."

I could barely recognize my own voice, with a gravelly gruff undertone I did not know I had. Did Ino really affect me _this_ much? I shook my head, slowly, as if it could clear out these rogue thoughts.

Ino flinched at the truth in my words, crossing the room in a few paces to fill up a small cup of water. Once it was filled to the brim, she returned to my side. Her face is much more solemn then I am used to. I chug the water in haste, nearly choking on it.

"You haven't exactly been the most approachable person either Billbo- Sakura."

Silence. It stretched across what I now realized to be a small hospital outpatient room. That would explain the lack of IV puncturing my arm.

"You just let me walk away," I rasped out softly, despite the healing the cool water had done. I wasn't sure if she could hear me, or if I wanted her to hear me, but I continued anyway.

"You let me walk out of your life in a moment of rage. You didn't fight me, convince me, demand, beg, or force me..."

"I thought that was what you wanted!" Her voice was full of passion, something that caught me totally off guard. I missed seeing her like this, at her glory. Ino was a force to be reckoned with when you threatened something she loved or believed in. It was part of what drew me in to her to begin with.

I looked at the equipment which lay in the usually vacant room, trying to see anything but that desperate look in her eyes. Other then the fine layer of dust coating it, all of the machines seemed in perfect condition, ready for the use with a good sweep of the hand. But then why would they be there, shadows in a numberless room? Who would abandon what seemed to be a perfect state of being?

They're machines of the past. Once upon a time, they were state-of-the-art, shinobi-saving, equipment of heroes. Once upon a time they were perfect, regulating lives and doing their job.

I can't help but compare Ino and my friendship to these worthy electronics. What was the past cannot hope to paddle into the future. It must stay where it was, where it belonged, or drown, outdated and too underused to be a real asset anywhere. This revelation hurt. I stood to brush past my ex-best friend.

She grabbed my bruised arm with a firmer grip then I knew she could possess. My breath caught in my throat once again, gazing into those endless crystal blue eyes. My left side seemed abnormally warm and I struggled to pull free from her grasp.

"Sakura-chan," she whispered softly, the words melting my resolved heart. A part of me, hell, a majority of me never wanted to quit being close with Ino. But another segment of Sakura had forced me away from her comfort and shelter.

"I let you go... so you could become your own person. That was the only way to let you blossom," The regret dripped from her words as I soaked them in. Could it really be?

"But that's not entirely it. I wanted Sasuke as my own; I still do. He is a prime example of a shinobi and gorgeous. But you just walked away from our friendship for him, and part of me was happy with letting you go. It was less stressful, I didn't have to be perfect for you anymore, I could make friends with the other girls, and everything was just easier. My parents didn't..."

She stopped suddenly, as if muttering words she shouldn't have.

The anger, I could feel it boil inside of me. Ino's parents were ideal clan ninja, with a cheery acquaintance with numerous on the shinobi board. They held the prestigious Ino-Shika-Chou legacy which was passed down to their children.

Yamanaka Inoichi is a fine shinobi, a working man who has risked his life on numerous missions. He only wants the best for Ino, and if that was the Ninja Academy, so be it. I had met him a lot in my youth, and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, if not a little overprotective of his only daughter.

In my own musings, I wonder if Ino would have walked the path of a shinobi without her father. Then I remember her mother, and immediately know the answer. Not a main clan member, she still reveled in the power it brought from her marriage. Ino's mother, not her family, was the reason she was forced from me. My palms shoke in slight rage. I should have guessed.

"I cared more about our friendship then you did, even with that," Ino continued, bitterly, "And you were just willing to throw it away so easily. You have no right to judge me Haruno, no-"

I couldn't help myself. For the second time in a short expanse of time, a resounding smack of flesh on flesh flooded the room. My heated scowl did nothing to fix the mood.

"You were the one who was supposed to help me, not threaten me! You were my best friend, Yamanaka, one of my only friends and suddenly you try to steal away the only thing I wanted from life. You watched me walk away, for your own social status and because you were always too afraid to disappoint mommy and daddy."

I spit on the ground next to her, wincing at the sharp pain in my throat. I angrily snatched up the water cup, downing what little liquid remained in it.

The silence that stretched was much more then any in my life. My inner Sakura was arguing with my harsh judgments on Ino and my will melted at the destroyed look in her eyes. I had every right to hate her, despise her, never talk to her again. She had betrayed my trust worst then anyone in my young life. There was supposed to be repercussions for that.

But doesn't she have every right to hate me just as much, if not more?

Sighing mentally. I take a few shaking steps forward; she flinches again.

I lunged forward to hug Ino close to me, body quivering in anger and remorse. I know we were both to blame for this equally. I tried to give up our bonds for a silly infatuation, and she to please her self-righteous mother. We had both fucked up.

"I'm sorry Ino-chan," I bit out, through a trembling lower lip. We pulled away after a minute, facing one another once again. She smiled, a bright sun of smile I hadn't been privy to in awhile. The rays warmed my stomach.

"We can't just pick up where we left off, though."

Her face looked slightly puzzled and I sighed.

"As much as I want you back into my life, I have to start trusting you again Ino-chan. We're going to have to rebuild what we lost from scratch, so it can't fall again."

The petulant spark in her gaze faded a bit, but she nodded in agreement. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Naruto threw the door open with a loud thud, dragging a confused Sasuke behind him. At the sight of Ino and I together, he took a step back.

"Ohayo, Sasuke-san," Ino called out with a tender smile. Seeing she wasn't going to attack him with her usual rabid fangirl antics, he nodded back.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, why is everyone here?"

"To go shopping of course. Team Demolition needs a make-over."

That familiar gleam worked its way into Ino's eyes, and I knew the boys would be regretting today.

The four ninja made their way down the street, stopping first at a common shiniobi weapons shop. TenTen had a job there, making it easy for me to secure new holsters that had been denied to Naruto earlier. He argued for getting them in orange, much to the dismay of fashion-consultant Ino and dark brooding Sasuke. They settled on a rusty orange hitai-ate, midnight black kunai holders situated on his upper-thighs.

We all picked up new standardized kunai and shuriken given for free on a monthly allowance. It was one of the Hokage's way of showing he cared, by paying for weapon expenses along with mission checks. I grabbed a thick bundle of senbon needles, preferring the less dense weapons in the heat of battle. Senbon flew quicker and pinpointed a smaller area, a deadly threat to a slacking shinobi's pressure points. They were also a necessity in a number of my genjutsus that required "release" spots to work. A sliver of a needle could be dropped into the ground in an instant the enemy was unfocused.

It took us six equipment stores to find a place willing to let Naruto into the doorstep. Ino and I had objected profusely to shops that refused to let the hyperactive shinobi into the store. After the second shop, Sasuke cut off our arguments with a simple sentence.

"Do you really want to give business to those spineless cowards anyway?"

That had shut us up well enough. Reaching a lesser-known shop, Naruto hesitantly set his foot through the threshold, searching for the owner of the newest boutique. His body was tensed, as if waiting to dodge an attack from an invisible opponent. I looked sadly at his back. No one should go through enough abuse to adopt a stance that like when merely going shopping. I whispered such to the blonde next to me; Ino growled in agreement.

"Ah, Naruto-san, what brings you to my humble shop?"

The spiky blonde's posture slumped in relief as he was embraced by a man, looking to be in his mid-thirties.

"Hiraku-san, how have you been? It's been too long," I smiled as that recklessly stupid grin took place on Naruto's face. The older man looked expectantly at us.

"Don't expect him to remember proper manners," I teased, Naruto sticking out his tongue at me childishly. The dark featured man laughed at our teammate's antics, introducing himself.

Hiraku spun a sad tale. His wife and daughter had died nearly seven years ago from a raiding of Iwa ninjas, leaving him in deep grief. He had been fired from his job a week ago, and was hard pressed to find work. Selling his house, he moved into an extremely cheap housing complex, warned of a "demon" living amidst humans. The so-called "demon" was a six year old boy living by himself in a rundown apartment.

"And from then on, me and Naruto-san were neighbors. He used to run all over Konohagakure for me, delivering goods and leaving before people could spot him. I was so proud to hear of him joining the ninja academy. Unfortunately, they kicked Naruto out of the apartments a year ago, raising the prices nearly four-fold. I would have left anyway, the despicable way they treated my Ruru-chan."

"Hira-san, stop calling me that. It makes me feel like a kid! " Naruto scowled at the older man, who mused up his hair and laughed heartily. It was heart-warming to see an average civilian with some sense left in him.

"I used the money I saved from rooming with Naruto-san to open up this shop. And here we are. So who are these youngsters with you?"

"Ne, the mean girl with pink hair is Sakura-chan, the Blondie is Ino-san, and the duck-butt is Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched at the nickname and I couldn't stifle a laugh at the comparison. Ino joined in mere seconds later.

"What can I help you fine shinobi with?"

Explaining our mission, we quickly went scouring the shop.

Naruto's new clothing was the primary objective of the day. After numerous threats of dismemberment and castration, Naruto shed his jumpsuit, which we immediately burned. Nearly an hour later, his ensemble was finished. Sasuke was next, and his was rather easy to pick out. As long as it had the Uchiha Clan symbol, which could be stitched onto anything, he was happy.

Naruto chatted Hikaru up as Ino and I dove into the stacks of clothes for our own wardrobes. Eventually, our outfits were finalized and our shopping for the day complete.

As the sun shone brightly, high in the sky, we exited the tidy shop with lighter wallets and new mission clothes.

Naruto walked ahead of us, babbling and jumping around about an upcoming mission. He had on solid black fingerless gloves with a Konoha plate tied in above the knuckles of each. Above the steel plates and on the palms were burnt orange whirlpools, Naruto's infamous markings. His hitai-ate was tied securely around his neck, steel enforced cloth that same darkened orange as his kunai holders. The normally wild mane of sun-streaked hair turned into a different sort of crazy, bangs falling down the side of his face to age his profile slightly.

Naruto's tanned forearms were on display, creeping up to the meshed sleeves of his new shirt. It was made of a thickened material but fit like Gai-sensei's jumpsuit, showing off his muscled chest and loosening around his developing abs. It was sheer black, met by somewhat baggy black shorts with a peculiar insignia on the left leg.

A jumble of orange, red and navy blue twisted into an elegant looking letter "D" carved into the number 7. Where one color ended another began until they blended so finely it was hard to distinguish one from another. Black standard ninja sandals covered his feet and the rust orange thigh holsters blended in perfectly. He looked like a real shinobi instead of a walking target.

Sasuke scowled half-heartedly, as he always did. He had a blatantly obvious soft-spot for the outspoken blonde, when one knew him well enough.

Sasuke's new attire was a modified Uchiha design.

The high collared shirt was a deep black, a perfect match of Naruto's new gear. However,the collar was situated lower, giving a clear view of his once unarmored neck. Sasuke's headband was wrapped in a similar fashion around his throat, giving him sufficient protection from any fatal neck wounds. His signature arm warmers were navy blue with black trims on the edges, a replica of color to his shorts exactly. The Uchiha crest was sown into the rear of his shirt, as well as in the center of the arm warmers. In the same place as Naruto, there was the designated 7 of meshed colors standing proudly. He had on uniform black shinobi sandals to complete the outfit.

To complete Team Seven's makeover, I looked down at my own outfit. My dress-like overall was now replaced with a matching black elongated shirt, with dark red streaks licking from the sides and bottom of the hems. I had the same fingerless gloves as Naruto, with a small cherry blossom etched on the top and palms. My elbow guards were also pitch black, along with my shorts underneath were. My outer skirt was a burnt pink, a few shades darker then my pink locks. My kunai holsters and hitai-ate cloth were the same red. The team trademark "7-D" was on a stretch of the skirt between my thigh and hips.

It may only be clothing, but I felt a sense of pride swell up in my chest. Who would have thought months ago, fan girl Haruno Sakura would be on one of the most promising genin team? More importantly, who would have thought she would be an actual contribution? Although Naruto and Sasuke may have appeared nonplussed and slightly agitated by the whole ordeal, I could feel us shifting closer as a team. We were team Demolition at that time, walking down the street with Ino in tow.

_Ino._

We had talked more today then we have in years. It felt nice getting a best friend back, having someone important fill up the void I had been missing- someone taking the vacancy of the best friend slot. Although we had just started getting close again, everything was easy with Ino: the conversation, the shopping, the entire day in general.

I forgot how well we worked together, did together, until she was back in my life. And for some reason, I can't seem to keep my guard up around her long enough to distrust her. The blonde-haired kunoichi had found the way back into my heart quicker then I thought possible. It was unsuspecting, but an all-together pleasant surprise.

She too had updated her mission gear, A purple mesh-and-cloth- styled top fitted her form nicely, cutting off right above her belly button. A purple split shirt with charcoal gray shorts brought attention to her developing hips. Her legs held fishnets trailing from mid-thigh down to mid-calf. Black ninja sandals held purple painted toes. Her hitai-ate was also hanging from her neck, much more loosely then Sasuke's in a fashion statement rather then protection. I frowned slightly.

"Ino-san, why is your hitai-ate so low?"

She swept her eyes down at it and shrugged.

Naruto and Sasuke had some training plans to fulfill, leaving me and Ino on the vacant street. I looked her over again. Lean calf muscles, lean stomach, lean arms. There was no built up muscle anywhere on her visible body, just the thin frame of a girl who exercises.

"Are you up to a sparring match, Ino?"

The challenging glare of my rival sent us dashing into the tree tops.

I felt a strong pang of déjà vu, facing off against Ino once more. She drew a sharpened kunai as my holsters produced two handfuls of senbon needles.

"What are the restrictions to our duel?"

She smirked mockingly at me.

"What's the matter Sakura-chan, can't handle some taijutsu without winning with your little tricks?"

A throaty growl escaped my lips as my hands flexed around the senbon, grinning viciously at her. I felt the surged of adrenaline, as the clarity struck my eyes once more. The new sense of primal urges during battle cleared my mind and loosened my muscles. Forest green met with ocean blue before sprinting forward at a breakneck speed.

We met in a clash of sparks, needles at kunai clanging together in the bare opening of the forest. I recovered first, grabbing onto her wrist to throw her over my shoulder. Ino counteracted with a sharp jab to my side.

I had expected the punch, seeing Ino's basic academy form of taijutsu, twisting out of the way to land a chakra coated punch onto her exposed side.

We continued with our mostly hand-to-hand combat, flicking a sparse amount of kunai and other steel weapons throughout the duration of our fight. At every meeting, I landed a score on Ino's now battered body. She had caught me off-guard once with a modified kick combo I had not been expecting. My bruised ribs had paid for my cockiness, and now I put up a firmer defense.

The blonde kunoichi and myself traded fierce punches and kicks. After a few minutes of fighting, I had an obvious advantage, but decided not to press it. I wanted to see the extent of Ino's capabilities.

By the end of our duel, I had barely worked up a sweat. My superiority as a ninja shone through, baffling Ino. At our last battle mere months ago, we were equals. Now I stood on a slightly higher plain, and she could not figure out what exactly had happened.

"How...?" the out-of-breath comment came.

"How did you...? We're rivals, I should have beat you."

"I train now Ino-san."

My once rival lay on the floor, shocked and panting after our half an hour duel. My mouth curved downwards at the confirmed observations I had hoped were wrong. Ino hadn't been taking her training seriously.

"Ino, do you even want to be a shinobi?"

Her eyes hardened at the question and she immediately opened her mouth in a sharp response.

"I'm part of the Ino-Shika-Cho legacy, it's in my blood to be a ninja and-"

"I didn't ask if you were 'born' to be a ninja, I asked if you wanted to.

"Of course, Forehead," She snarled. I tried not to take offense at the defense mechanism.

"Then why don't you train? All I ever see you, Shikamaru and Chouji doing is eating together. Do you even train outside of team-building missions?

Her eyes cut to her shoes, which kicked at a non-existent rock. I lowered my voice.

"Ino-chan, I know your parents want you to be some kind of amazing ninja, but is-"

"You don't know!" Her anger erupted into a series of growling sentences,

"You know nothing of the pressures on my life. You have it easy! You have amazing teammates, and get to be with Sasuke-kun nearly every day."

I felt chilled, and then suddenly nothing, as if my anger had iced over into something that doesn't even exist. My mouth moved without my brain's consent.

"I have to work every day to keep up with my team, Yamanaka. I have to bust my ass to make a name for myself, since no one has ever heard of my own before. I get no special clan privileges, I don't get favors or a say in the ninja council. Sasuke is a comrade, nothing more.

You think to think long and hard about yourself, Ino. Maybe you should be working on becoming a better ninja with your fancy clan then worrying your hair-care products, so you can actually be useful for a change, Yamanaka-sama."

I spat her name back at her, numb to the core as I walked away from my childish best friend. My walk turned into a full out sprint as I reached a somewhat familiar training ground once more.

Taking all of my anger out on a training dummy, I heard a satisfying snap as it crunched in half after two solid hits. I rampaged, my rage taking over at the careless words of Yamanaka Ino. Maybe she would take what I said to heart, or maybe she would go back to ignoring me. I pondered the subject, my fists going into anything with substance in the feeble training yard. Either way, she still had a lot of growing up to do.

* * *

Well?

-Dak


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Ten-chan... Ten-kun... Ten-koi, oh my Ten-koi."

I was goading her and she knew it. Yet she remained silent. It was fine though, I had my genjutsu waiting in place, a new personal creation. The senbon were in a perfect circle, dissecting the clearing and forest next to it. All she had to do was step.

* * *

"Geez Sakura-chan, you could at least go easy on me with the genjutsu," TenTen whined and stuck her tongue out at me.

Before I could reply a "Yosh team! That will conclude our youthful practice!" rung out through the forest. I laughed at my eccentric sensei before looking back at Ten.

"Ready for lunch? I was thinking of picking up Hinata."

"I already invited Hina-chan," TenTen admitted with a slight coloring on her cheeks.

"Hina-chan?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I... I mean Hinata-chan."

There was the blush again.

"You guys been hanging out a lot lately?"

"Ye-Yeah we have. Since Neji-san wouldn't spar with me when I went out to the Hyuuga complex. We've been working on our stuff together and uhh I swea-"

"Ten," I looked at her with sincerity in my eyes,

"We're family no matter what, you know?"

She had a gleam in her eyes, but I knew no tears would fall. TenTen has been through too much to shed anymore tears, even out of happiness.

"Kami Sakura, you're so sappy. Besides... it's... nothing like that."

_But do you want it to be?_ I ask her silently.

She meets my gaze evenly before looking away.

* * *

My mind wandered back into that conversation with TenTen when Naruto so charmingly interrupts.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, how do you always get the pretty girls to eat with you?"

Naruto had been whining into my ear for the past couple weeks and it was about to drive me insane. Don't get me wrong though, I'm insanely relieved he stopped crushing on me, but a girl has to draw a line. Between training with Gai, Kurenai, and Kakashi-sensei, Hinata and TenTen had started an easy friendship. We took to eating lunch together a week after my fight with Ino, which was about four months ago.

Progress was slow, but steady. I finally feel like I can start to keep up with Naruto and Sasuke, at least when we're running warm-ups. I have much heavier weights and a decent chakra pool. When it comes to combat, I still have a long way to go.

"Are you implying that I am not pretty, Naruto?" An amused smirk took over my mouth as Naruto-kun struggled to take back what he said. The results? His foot getting shoved further down his throat.

Taking the blonde prankster is a one-armed hug I led him to the ramen shop, pulling Sasuke with us for some quality lunch. Over the long training we had grown seemingly closer. Sasuke smiled a bit more freely now, but only in the privacy of team meetings or training. He and Naruto had formed a deep bond, one I was both envious and proud of. They worked to push each other to new limits everyday, and Sasuke seemed less and less intent on throwing away his life to murder his brother.

Team Demolition had grown a long way. Despite our improvements, Naruto still insisted on ramen atleast once a week. I couldn't really blame Naruto, however. The ramen stand owner and his daughter were some of the kindest people he knew. With carefree smiles and playful pushes, we finally made our way to the growing shop. After the Hokage had met with us for our weekly ritual sales have been booming at the stand.

I expected a large lunch time crowd, perhaps a villager or two brave enough to glare at Naruto. What I did not expect to see was Ino sitting with Hinata and TenTen, giggling over something the normally shy Hinata had said.

She had started to grow out of her shell, Hinata that is. Her friendship with TenTen has done nothing short of a miracle for her self-esteem. Letting her hair grow out longer and shedding her gigantic, fur-lined jacket, Hinata finally started walking and talking with an air of confidence. TenTen, being the stubborn girl she was, took my words to heart and had been abusing poor Hinata at the training grounds for hours and hours to find what was missing from her fighting form... and perhaps a couple of other things.

It was an interesting relationship they shared; TenTen often looked over-protective after the Hyuuga heiress, but Hinata did not seem to mind at all. In fact, she seemed to have softened TenTen up a bit. Don't even say that to her face though, you'll leave with a shinobi vest littered with holes and burns.

Naruto had been begging for excuses to meet my female friends, and a couple weeks ago we had a lunch date. Now he took every excuse to sit with them, dragging poor Sasuke with him.

At the bell from our entrance, Ino looked up and directly into my eyes. A steely look crossed her face and lessened into something indecipherable.

A frown tugged at the corners of my mouth as I mumbled an excuse to get away from the blonde girl sitting with my friends. Naruto had a worried gleam in his eyes, but he shot me a comforting smile and nodded. Sasuke, much to my surprise, shot a glare at Ino before making his way to the table.

As I made my way out of the warm ramen shop and back into the beginnings of a Konoha winter, A hand shot out to grab my bicep. Without thinking, I pulled the hand forward, using the attacker's momentum to throw them over my head before taking a fighting stance. I looked down into the amused and shocked face of Ino.

"Sorry," I mumbled, helping her up and then turning to hurry away. She reached out a second time.

"I'm sorry Forehead, alright?"

"Yeah. Whatever."

I know I was being immature, but I just didn't have the heart to fight with Ino any more. I had gotten my hopes up before, only to be snubbed for months. Like I had said earlier, there was only so much a girl can take.

"Always the stubborn one, eh Saku?"

And then she smiled. It was the sunny smile of wistful remembrance of easier times. My heart melted a bit and I nodded in agreement, a slight blush on my cheeks. My stubbornness was legendary among my peers, supposedly.

"Come eat with us?" She asked, voice so soft I could have imagined it. There was no imagining the pleading look on her defined face though, my old friend completely and a stranger in the same breath.

"Sure."

I took her hand and she led me back into the shop, with the only group of people I knew as my family.

* * *

"So did you two kiss and make up?" TenTen smirked, waggling her eyebrows at me. I scowled at her, fighting a blush from my pale face. Naruto spit out his ramen, laughing loudly at the jab, before stuffing more into his mouth.

That was perhaps why TenTen and Naruto got along so well. They were both natural pranksters at heart; TenTen a more verbal joker while Naruto was a hands-on type of dobe.

I turned to shoot TenTen a glare, noticing the light blush barely staining Ino's cheeks. Deciding to mess with both of them, I drew my childhood friend closer to me.

"You know we always do," I let my voice lower into something a tad inappropriate and rubbed Ino's arm suggestively. Her blush turned deep, flooding her face a tomato color.

Naruto's mouth hung open a bit, a ramen noodle sliding down his chin. Sasuke smirked, a chuckle on the edge of lips but refrained in public. Ino and TenTen looked equally stunned. Hinata sat silent, looking back and forth between us.

"Wh-Wha I d-di-didn't..."

It was about the same time Naruto's noodle hit the counter top and Ino tried to stutter her way through an awkward sentence that I busted out laughing.

"Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face," I got out between hearty laughs.

"I think you have been hanging out with Naruto-kun a bit too much, Sakura-san," Hinata's shy voice cut through my laughter. I grinned and sat down next to them, pulling a still-stunned Ino down with me.

"So, what's the special?"

* * *

After lunch I headed back to my apartment. The old man had helped finance it after the whole family issue. That is not something I want to relive again though.

Looking around the room with shinobi precaution, I disabled the three well placed traps and pulled out the rugged leather composition book and it's twins. I stared hard at the cover for a few moments before strumming my fingers through the dogeared pages. These journals was my most coveted possession, The first one arrived back, when I was starting to get my act together.

Then, ever other month I had received a new one. Some pages were filled with theories and law, a way to shape a village up from its core and keep it steady. Others had equations and prophecies, trying to figure out everything from the perfect kunai to the best techniques. Some were in relation to a bingo book, or a textbook, and yet others were personal and deep.

I shook my head, putting up the motion traps around my quaint apartment. Better safe then sorry, I mumbled to myself, before flipping open to the last read passage. It was time to start a new chapter of the newest edition. And it was there I spent my entire noon and evening, reviewing the literature placed before me.

* * *

"Mission day, mission day, Sakura-chan it's mission day!" Naruto was practically prancing down the street, a huge grin enveloping his entire face, much to the chagrin of the ill-tempered villagers. A biting scowl covered my face, aimed at the civilians looking to start a fight with the "demon". They quickly backed into their shoddy shops, grumbling loudly to one another and tossing their rocks aside.

Even Sasuke was smiling, no one able to deny Naruto's infectious mood for very long. As we made our way to the Hokage tower, a thought stuck in my head. I had to inform the Hokage of something I read. The tricky part would be how to divulge this particular section without letting the old man know I had the journal.

"Before we head to the Hokage tower, I need to talk to you three."

Kakashi-sensei's voice was oddly serious. We stopped under a canopy of lively tall trees, shielding us from the end of a Konoha fall.

"As you may or may not know, the Chuunin exams are coming to Konoha this month. I am registering all three of you as a team to join. This is your decision to make, as individuals and as a team. Ninja have died in this exam, it is no light joke."

"Sensei, if one person does not want to go, can the other two go?" I asked meekly. I was still not up to Naruto and Sasuke's strength, and I wouldn't want to hold them back.

Kakashi smiled warmly at me.

"Naruto, Sasuke, go to the Hokage tower, we will meet you there."

"But sensei what about-"

"Let's go dobe."

"I'm not a dobe you teme! Race you to the tower!"

I shook my head at their behavior, a small smile on my face. I caught Kakashi trying to smother a smile of his own, apparent through his eyes.

"Sakura-chan, you realize how much progress you've made, no?"

"I just don't know if it's enough sensei."

When I looked up from my sandals, I saw Kakashi staring off into the distance.

"You know Sakura, you three are quite troublesome. But... you are my team. I've watched you grow and know what you are capable of. The reports from Kurenai and Gai speak for themselves. Do not underestimate yourself."

He paused, caught up in his mind or his words,

"And I would never let my precious people die again."

"Again?"

Sensei was quiet for awhile before shrugging and taking out his little orange book. I smiled up at him again before we set off for the giant tower for a new mission.

"Team Demo reporting for an awesome mission, dattebayo!" Naruto announced while throwing open the mission door.

Iruka-sensei frowned at his behavior and started yelling, as always. Naruto has his sheepish grin and his arms bent behind his head, as always. I smiled at Sasuke who faked a scowl and covered his face in his palms.

It was such a transformation, I thought. Just looking at the Sasuke now and the one from the academy. Obviously he looked physically different and he had different attire, but the greatest change had to be in his attitude. I would like to think I had some part in it, with all of the bonding trips and Team 7 time. But I'm pretty sure the main change in Sasuke was due to Naruto. Sasuke of the past was an angry, vengeful boy with dreams bigger then his ego. Sasuke of today was a growing young man with ideals and value, and most importantly, a family.

It's kind of ironic in my mind to think that I had no feelings for this Sasuke, this new and improved one; yet I had fawned day in and day out over the old, messed up one.

"Team Seven, I had your mission here," the Hokage motioned over to us, smoke billowing from his wooden pipe.

"Old man! Is it an A rank? Are we going to kill some big powerful nukenin and save-"

"Naruto."

"Yes Kaka-sensei?"

"Let Hokage-sama talk."

"Oh."

"Like I was saying. Team Seven I have an intel mission for you. Normally I would not send a team of... such _demolition_ out," He winked as he said this, emphasizing the phrase. Hokage-sama must want the nickname to stick.

"But I'm afraid it might end in unnecessary violence. The mission details are in your assigned packets. This will be a tentative C-ranked, but will most likely be upgraded. Team Gai and Team Eight will be your company teams. You are to leave tomorrow morning. Pack for week long survival necessities."

And I smiled, noticing that I have been a lot happier here then I have in a very long time.

* * *

Oh man guys. It's been awhile huh? I would apologize but I'm pretty sure you don't care. Let's just say a lot of things happened, and a lost a lot, including inspiration. So I sat down a couple hours ago and pushed this out.

Sorry the chapter is so short, I'm moving in a different direction with my writing and I think it's showing in this chapter. Also, I'm a tad bit rusty.

If anyone wants to beta for me drop me a PM. I think it would help me stay on track a lot. Changes are on the front page, aka chapter one, involving couples and plot devices and are in **bold**.

So, what did you think?

-Dak


End file.
